Growing Up Grissom
by Kiki102
Summary: He was emotionally involved now, whether he liked it or not. And for the record, he didn't. This was like standing on the edge of a cliff, weighing up all the options, then deciding to jump off anyway. For the first time in his life, he followed his heart. Hints of Grissom/OC then Grissom/Sara in later chapters.
1. Cassandra

**Hey :)**

**Nobody faint! An update from _me_! Amazing! Well, not exactly an update since it's a new story, _but_ I can promise that this story won't be abandonned as it's finished. From now on, I'l only upload stories which I've completed as I hate leaving them unfinished and leaving you all hanging on.**

**Anyway, this is a series of oneshots mostly linked to Grissom and Cassy (whom you are about to meet). It's mostly pre-series excenpt for the last couple. Vaguley AU. Enjoy :)**

**Christina x**

**XOXOXOX**

"Do you hear that?" Grissom asked.  
>"Hear what?" Danny Harper frowned, carefully placing the fibre he'd just found into an evidence bag.<br>"Crying," Grissom replied, looking around.  
>"Probably nothing man," Danny shrugged. "Some kid down the street. Forget it." Grissom ignored him and began to walk away, leaving their bludgeoned vic and the path, crossing the grass towards the sound of the crying. "Where are you going?" Danny hollered. "I can't process this scene by myself! Gil. Gil!"<p>

Grissom ignored his partner, concentrating wholly on following the sound of the crying. It was a child crying, that much he was sure. Too high pitched to be an adult. The closer he got, he realised it was a baby, a young baby. He followed the sound, until he came to the top of a bank, leading down to another of the park's gravel pathways. Negotiating his way down, Grissom jumped off the wall onto the path. At this time in the morning the path was deserted, it was too early even for dog walkers and joggers. He leaned behind a bench and carefully lifted out the screaming bundle. Carefully, he pulled back the blanket and was faced by a red faced, screaming baby girl.

"Hey there," Grissom said soothingly, jiggling the little girl. He wondered how long she'd been lying there screaming, waiting for someone to come. The white cotton blanket was standard hospital issue, but was now starting to look grubby. The outside of the blanket was cold, but the girl still felt warm. Still, Grissom knew she would have to be checked out for pnemonia.

By now she'd stopped screaming, comforted by the fact that someone was holding and talking to her. She looked up at him with tear filled brown eyes. Grissom smiled, she was a beautiful girl. Whoever had left her there had obviously not planned on anyone finding her on time as nothing had been left with her, no bag, no bottles, no note, and no birth certificate.  
>"Let's go see how Danny's getting on," he said to her.<p>

"Took you long enough," Danny called, glancing up and noticing his partner walking back across the grass. "I've already finished processing the scene, the vic's on her way back and I bet my record for thoroughly processing a crime scene." He stood up as Grissom approached, noticing for the first time the baby in his arms. "What's that?" he frowned.  
>"It's a baby."<br>"I can see that Griss, what are you doing with it?"  
>"She, and I found her. She was the one crying."<br>"You found her?"  
>"Behind a bench."<br>"Someone just left a kid behind a bench? In the middle of the night?" Danny asked incredulously. "She can't be more than a couple of weeks, if that. Unbelievable. People really make me sick sometimes."  
>"Take a sample of her DNA and run it when you get back to the lab," Grissom said. "Check it against our victim. I have a hunch they're related."<br>"Will do," Danny replied, taking a cheek swab from the baby girl. "Where are you going?"  
>"The hospital," he replied. "We don't know exactly how long she's been out here, I want to get her checked out. I'll see you back at the lab."<br>"And if Ecklie asks, what do I tell him?"  
>"Tell him the truth."<p>

XOXOXOX

"Mr Grissom?" the nurse, who'd introduced herself to him as Leah, called.  
>"Yeah?" he replied, standing.<br>"Through here," Leah smiled. He followed her from the ER waiting room to one of the treatment rooms, where a doctor waited with the baby girl.  
>"She's fine," the doctor said. "A little cold from being left out all night and hungry."<br>"Would you like me to arrange a bottle to feed her with or do you have?" Leah asked.  
>"That would be great," Grissom replied.<br>"I'll get one arranged from the maternity ward right away," she smiled. "One moment."

While he waited, Grissom watched the little girl. Although she didn't smile, there seemed to be some flash of recognition and she stopped squirming quite so much. Grissom carefully rubbed her tiny hand with one finger until she latched onto it, wrapping her fingers tightly around it. He smiled.

"Here we are," Leah said, re-entering the room. "One bottle. Are you happy to feed her?"  
>"Sure," Grissom replied, surprised.<br>"If not, I can get one of the other nurses to do it."  
>"No it's fine. Thank you."<p>

Once Leah left, Grissom carefully picked up the girl again, making sure she was comfortable before picking up the bottle. He'd never done this before, but how hard could it be? Besides, she was probably starving. Who knew when the last time she had been fed was. While he watched her, Grissom wondered again who would leave their child, their baby, their newborn baby, in a park in the middle of the night to die. It hinted to him that they hoped she would be found, but then logic kicked in again. It was on a back path, one of the least used ones, away from the edge of the park. They wanted her to suffer.

XOXOXOX

"Harper!" Ecklie called, leaning out of his office.  
>"Count to three and turn around," Danny whispered. He managed to plaster a smile on his face. "Yeah?"<br>"Where's Grissom?" Ecklie asked.  
>"Hospital, found a baby near the scene, been left there all night," Danny replied. "Wanted to make sure she was okay. Griss thinks the two are conected. I'm going to run the DNA now to see if our vic is related to the baby."<p>

"Right, let's see if we have a match," Danny said, closing the lab doors behind him. It was how he worked, shut off, private and talking to himself. "Jane Doe's DNA... Now if that can run, see if we get a match... Meanwhile, I will see if Jane Doe and baby Jane Doe are mother and daughter..." While he waited, Danny drummed his finger on the desk. "And we have results! Interesting..."

"You know they say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."

Danny spun round in his chair in surprise. He hadn't even heard the door open.  
>"Yeah, so what sign are you at then Griss?" he asked. Then he noticed his partner was still holding the baby girl. "How is she?"<br>"Fine," Grissom replied. "Asleep now she's had something to eat. Hospital provided a bottle for her and I picked some more stuff on the way back."

Danny raised an eyebrow. This was not the Grissom he knew and teased.  
>"You do know we're supposed to call social services, right?"<br>"I will, after we find out who she is."  
>"Well, I've kinda already done that," Danny continued. "She's our vic's daughter." The computer dinged. "And we have a DNA match on our vic. Hold on... Lara Reynolds. Charged for being in possetion of heroin."<br>"Next of kin?"  
>"None listed. I'll go see if any of the blood on Lara Reynolds' body didn't belong to her. Maybe it'll be that simple?"<br>"Danny, it's never that simple."  
>"I know. It would be nice if it was though, just once. Griss, we have to call social services you know?"<br>"I know."

"Hey doc," Danny said, entering autopsy.  
>"Morning Danny," Al replied. "Here about our Jane Doe?"<br>"Yeah. She's not a Jane Doe anymore doc. Her name's Lara Reynolds. What can you tell me?"  
>"Besides the obvious?"<br>"_Including_ the obvious," Danny grinned. "Things may not be what they seem," he added in a bad halloween voice.

"Multiple blows from both punches and kicks, but the blow that killed her was to the back of the neck with a hard object, probably a rock. It broke one of her vertibrae, paralysing her. Then she was left to die."  
>"Looks like that kid got off easy then," Danny said, his eyes taking in the multiple contusions across Lara Reynolds' body.<br>"What kid?" Al asked.  
>"Griss found a baby near the crime scene," he explained. "Took a DNA swab and matched it to our vic, she's Reynolds' kid. She was just left under a bench to die."<br>"Is she alright?"  
>"Yeah, Griss took her to the hospital. He seems kinda...attached."<br>"Grissom?"  
>"Yeah. It's wierd. Got any DNA from our attacker then?"<br>"Swabbed some of the blows made by fists. It's your job to see if it's her blood or not."  
>"Indeed it is," Danny agreed.<p>

XOXOXOX

He didn't know why it bothered him so much, but it did. This was him they were talking about, he never got emotionally involved. He prided himself on it. So what the hell was different this time? Because the truth was, pure and simply, that Grissom had not wanted to let that little girl go. He had of course, because it was his job to solve not crimes, not babysit abandonned children. That was social services' job.

"Yes! Yes, yes yes, _yes_!"

Grissom stuck him head into the lab Danny was working in.  
>"Are you okay?" he asked.<br>"We have a match!" Danny replied gleefully, spinning continuosly on his chair, arms raised above his head. Grissom grabbed the chair, stopping when Danny was facing him once more. "We have a match," Danny repeated.  
>"To what?"<br>"Blood from Lara Reynolds' wounds that is _not_ hers. It belongs to one Mr Jason Archer which means he has just become prime suspect number one!" Then Danny pushed the chair back out of Grissom's reach and began spinning again.

"Grievous bodily harm... Possetion of heroin... Possetion of PCP... Grand larceny..." Grissom read.  
>"That possetion of heroin charge, from the same time as Lara Reynolds," Danny called from mid spin. "So as a precaution I ran Archer's DNA aghainst the baby's. Paternal match."<br>"Good job Danny," Grissom called, leaving him to spin in joy.

"Hey Griss, man, wait up!" Danny called, leaping off the still spinning chair, grabbing onto the table as his legs attempted to go in two different directions.

XOXOXOX

"Do you think it would be wrong if I slapped Archer?" Danny asked.  
>"Yeah," Grissom replied.<br>"Even after he ditched his kid in the park then murdered the mother of his child?"  
>"Yeah," Grissom repeated.<br>"Dang that sucks."  
>"You want to slap someone, become a boxer."<br>"I would, but I have this thing about pain," Danny replied. "I don't like it."

Detective Tadero ignored the banter of the two CSIs, knocking loudly on the door.

"I think Archer needs the number of a good handyman," Danny observed, taking in the peeling door and windows, one of which was boarded up. "You think I could pass on my cousin's number? Cause he just started this business which-"  
>"No," Grissom interupted.<br>"Kidding Griss. Well, kinda."

The door creaked open, and a bleary eyed face appeared.

"Yeah?"  
>"Wow, nobody light a match," Danny muttered, waving his hand as the vodka fumes assaulted their senses.<br>"Jason Archer?" Tadero asked.  
>"He left."<br>'When?"  
>"Yesterday."<br>"You sure?"  
>"Yeah I'm sure."<br>"And you are...?"  
>"His room mate."<br>"Name."  
>"Ricky. Ricky Murino."<br>"Well Ricky, think you can let us in?"  
>"No," Ricky replied.<br>"Actually, you don't have a choice," Tadero said. "Because we have a warrant which grants us access to Jason Archer's home and possesions."

"I think I'm getting drunk on fumes," Danny commented fifteen minutes later, as he and Grissom worked their way through Jason Archer's worldly possesions. "Woah, Griss, found something." Danny stood up and negotiated his way through the junk scattered across the floorboards to where Grissom was working on the other end of the continuous pile. "Jason and Lara," he said, handing Grissom the photo he'd found.

"Bag it," Grissom replied. Danny resisted the urge to make a face. Since they'd arrived Grissom had been even more untalkative than usual. The truth was, Grissom couldn't stop thinking about the baby girl, and what would have happened if she'd been brought back here instead of being abandonned in the park. Earlier he'd been so convinced abandonning her had been cruel but now he wasn't so sure. It would have been terrifying for a girl so tiny, in this place with it's harsh smells and strange noises and only yelling or violence likely to come her way if she cried. He was emotionally involved in this case, whether he liked it or not, and for the record, he didn't. He also had an overwealming desire to see the little girl again.

Trying to distract himself, Grissom picked up a black notebook and began flicking through it. He slowed, forwning, and began to read each page.

_Donna Marquis  
>25<br>$90_

_Ashleigh Waterson  
>19<br>$105_

_Mia Harron  
>16<br>$130_

Then came the _piece de resistence_ as far as the case was concerned.

_Lara Reynolds  
>21<br>$150_

"Danny," he called.  
>"What?" his partner replied, picking up items of clothing that had been left on the floor between his thumb and middle finger, keeping them at an arms length.<br>"Jason Archer wasn't Lara Reynolds' boyfriend."  
>"No?"<br>"He was her pimp. According to Archer's little black book, the price of Lara Reynolds was $150."

Danny let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of money."  
>"Highest price I've found so far. If she was pregnant, he was loosing money by the day."<br>"So why didn't he make her get an abortion?"  
>"Money, money money," Grissom replied.<br>"It's a rich man's world," Danny sang.

XOXOXOX

Grissom left Danny back at the lab then drove to the hospital.  
>"Good morning sir," the nurse at reception in the maternity ward said brightly. "How can I help?"<br>"Hi, my name's Gil Grissom," he replied. "I'm with the Las Vegas crime lab. I was wondering if you had any record of a birth, a week or two ago. I don't have the baby's name but her parents were Lara Reynolds and Jason Archer." He showed her the picture Danny had found at Archer's.  
>"Oh I remember them," the nurse replied. "Kinda hard to forget. She was screaming like anything, not that that's unusual. What was unusual was that he was screaming back."<p>

"_I hate you for this! Why are you making me do this?"_  
>"<em>Me? I never even wanted this in the first place! If you'd told me sooner I could've delt with it!"<em>

"What happened?" Grissom asked.  
>"Well the baby was born and she discharged herself. We tried to make her stay, the baby was two weeks early, but she insisted. There was nothing we could do."<br>"Thank you," Grissom smiled. "You don't happen to remember the baby's name?"  
>"She wasn't given one, at least not while she was here."<p>

XOXOXOX

"Sticky substance exuded by certain acacia trees," Danny read, staring at his crossword puzzle.  
>"Gum arabic," Grissom replied.<br>"Just once I'd like to get through one of these without you giving me the answers," Danny complained before writing gum arabic in three across.  
>"Did you <em>know<em> the answer?" Grissom asked.  
>"That's not the point!" Danny shouted, making the lab techs in the break room look up worriedly.<p>

"Sorry to break up this party," Ecklie said, entering the break room. "But I have bad news. Jason Archer's disappeared."  
>"What?" Danny exclaimed. "You do know that's physically impossible."<br>"There's a BOLO out, and all airports have been alerted but that's all we can do," Ecklie continued giving Danny a dirty look. "I'm sorry Gil, case is over."

XOXOXOX

"Mr Grissom," Shona Morrison said in surprise. She'd met the CSI two weeks ago when he'd found a baby abandonned in the park, she'd since learned that the baby's mother was murdered close by and her father was the murderer and had not yet been found. Shona had been a social worker for eight years, since she was twenty, and she never ceased to be amazed at how heartless people could be.

"Ms Morrison," Grissom said, shaking her hand.  
>"Please, call me Shona. Ms Morrison makes me feel old!" she joked.<br>"Shona then," Grissom smiled.

"What can I do for you Mr Grissom?" Shona asked, sitting down again. "I was under the impression that the case was over?"  
>"I'm not here in a professional capacity," Grissom replied. "I'm here personally. How would I go about arranging an adoption?"<p>

Shona raised her eyebrows, taking a sip from her lukewarm mug of coffee.  
>"Adoption?" she repeated. "Well, I would have to assess your suitibility... there's a number of conditions have to be met... Why?"<br>"I'm interested in adopting the baby girl I found two weeks ago."  
>"I guessed that much Mr Grissom. To be honest, personally, I think you would be a prime candidate. However, social services won't look at it that way. High stress job...long hours...dangerous situations on occasion. It's unlikely you would be approved."<br>"I would request a transfer to the night shift," Grissom explained. "Work at night, be with her during the day."  
>"And when exactly are you planning on sleeping?"<br>"When she's at school."  
>"You've thought this all out, haven't you?" Shona smiled.<br>"For two weeks."  
>"I'll see what I can do."<p>

XOXOXOX

When Shona had said that she would see what she would do, she meant that she would do everything in her power to see that that baby girl went to Grissom. He would deny it till the cows came home, but he was obviously smitten and Shona could read him like a book.

So she arranged the home visits and, in the place of family interviews, spoke to Danny and Doc Robbins. She filled out the necessary forms and wrote glowing recommendations. When the court date arrived she stood up and strongly recommended that Mr Grissom would make an excellent father. Then they waited anxiously for the judge's verdict. She granted custody.

XOXOXOX

Twenty eight days after he'd handed her over to social services,the baby girl was handed back to Grissom.

"I think she recognises you," Shona smiled, pleased that everything seemed to be working out. "Have you decided on a name for her? We've been calling her baby Jane Doe. She was never given a name."

"Cassandra," Grissom replied. "After the princess of Troy."

"Cassandra Grissom. I think it suits her."


	2. Coming Home

During the car journey back to his apartment, Cassy fell asleep in her new car seat. When they arrived, Grissom carefully undid the straps and picked her up, trying not to wake her. To his relief he managed to get inside without Cassy waking up and screaming the building down. Although he didn't really think she was that kind of baby. He carried her into the spare bedroom- he guessed it was Cassy's room now. Since he'd moved in, he'd never bothered to re-decorate the room. The walls were white, the floor laminated, it was nice enough. It wasn't as though there was a long line of people waiting to stay with him.

Instead of turning on the main light, Grissom put Cassy down in the newly bought crib then switched on the lamp, bathing the room in a warm glow. He stood silently, leaning against the edge of the crib, and watched his daughter. His daughter. It would take a while for him to get used to thinking and saying that. But then again, maybe not. He found himself wanting to get the words 'my daughter' into every sentance.

Even though it had been almost a month since he'd filed for adoption, Grissom still had no idea why he'd decided to do it. It wasn't sensible, it was irrational, it was very unlike him. As a scientist, when it came to making decisions, he looked at all the evidence before making the best or right decision. This was like standing on the edge of a cliff, weighing up all the options then deciding to jump off anyway. He worked crazy hours in a job he lived for. He'd put in for a transfer to night shift but who knew when that would happen? For once in his life he'd done something totally crazy and impromptu.

What did he know about kids or being a parent? Nothing. Enough to fit on the proverbial postage stamp. He was an only child, so it wasn't as though he'd any memories of his mom with younger siblings. But then he reminded himself, most first time parents were in the same boat as him, especially if they were only children too. He'd learn. When he was a kid he'd started attempting to dissect small animals. Now he was a CSI. He learned. It would be the same with being a father.

XOXOXOX

Two weeks. Well, thirteen days, nine hours and seven minutes. That was how long he had to find someone to babysit Cassy while he was at work. Correction, find someone to babysit Cassy in a way that wouldn't leave him broke. He picked up the yellow pages directory and began flicking through it, hoping inspiration would strike. Three pages in and the doorbell rang.

"Where is she?" Danny demanded the moment Grissom opened the door.

"She's asleep, so keep it down," he replied.

"I want to see her," Danny whined.

"You've seen her," Grissom pointed out.

"Yeah, but she wasn't your daughter then."

After letting Danny silently aww over Cassy while she slept, Grissom kicked him out of her room. The younger man flopped dramatically onto the couch.

"I'm starving," he commented.

"Then go home and cook yourself something," Grissom replied.

"Nah, I'll get dohnuts on the way to work. So whatcha doing?"

"You sound like a three year old."

Danny threw a cushion at him.

"Just because you have a kid now doesn't mean you can tell me I'm a child," he said authoritivly. Grissom smirked. "And you didn't answer my question."

"I was about to try and find an affordable way of getting a babysitter for Cassy."

"My sister Gina had a live in babysitter type thing last year," Danny replied. "You know, some foreign kid that wants to learn a foreign language and about a different culture aparently."

"An au pair?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Although Gina's was only interested in partying. But then she fired her and went through an agency and got this chick who was amazing with kids and it was great. Plus she was totally hot." He noticed the dirty look Grissom gave him. "What? She was. All tall, blonde and Swedish. Unfortunatly she also had a tall, blonde Swedish boyfriend that makes Arnie look tiny so I struck out."

XOXOXOX

Grissom managed to dislodge Danny from his couch five minutes after his shift was supposed to start, figuring that by the time Danny drove to CSI and stopped for dohnuts, he'd be at least half an hour late. He didn't want to think about the arguments between his friend and his boss that he'd have to clear up when he went back to work. Keeping Ecklie and Danny away from each other's throats was a full time job.

He turned on his computer and waited as the dialling tone rang out, connecting to the internet. Just as the homepage loaded, Cassy's cries rang out.

"Hey," he said quietly, picking up his daughter. Instantly she stopped crying, winding her fist into his shirt. "You just wanted someone to keep you company, didn't you?" he smiled, kissing her forehead. With Cassy in one arm, leaning against his chest, Grissom sat down again in front of the computer and searched for au pair agencies. Finding a reputable site, he began filling in the details for a profile. Name, simple enough.

_Name: Gil Grissom._

Children, again, simple enough.

_Childern: 1 child, 0-3 years._

He filled in the rest of the information on the first page, thinking that so far it seemed a good enough idea.

_Living in: USA_

_Nationality: American_

_Start date: ASAP_

_Length of stay: 1 year+_

The next page asked him to choose either male or female and to define an age range. He hesitated over picking either male or female, but eventually decided that having a female influence in Cassy's life would be a good thing. Besides his mother, he had no close female friends and defintely no girlfriends. Work, and now Cassy, took up too much of his time. Grissom made a mental note to make sure Danny never met the poor girl though. He wasn't fussed over how old she was, being good with children was much more important.

_We live in a big city._

_We are looking for an au pair girl aged 18-30._

_Our au pair is expected to speak some English._

The third page consisted of checking yes/no boxes, and took no time at all.

_Will the au pair be required to drive? Yes_

_Will you require the au pair to help with light housework? Yes_

_Do you mind if the au pair smokes? Yes_

_Do you smoke? No_

_Have you had an au pair before? No_

_Is the au pair required to look after disabled children? No_

_Single parent family? Yes _

The fourth and final page was the one Grissom least liked. Two questions that seemed simple enough, tell us about your family and what do you expect from your au pair. Whenever it came to job interviews and applications, Grissom hated the part where he had to sell himself, he believed your achievements should show what kind of person you were. He was far too private to want to shout about what he'd done. Staring at the screen for a minute, he gently ran his hand over Cassy's head, ruffling her thin brown hair, before beginning to type. Sitting back again, he read over what he'd written.

_**Tell us about your family**:_

_My daughter Cassandra is nearly a month old. I work as a crime scene investigator so I need someone to look after Cassy while I'm at work. We live in Las Vegas in a two bed apartment, so I will rent the apartment next door for you to live in. _

_**What do you expect from your au pair?**_

_I need you to look after Cassy while I'm at work, feeding, changing and playing with her. I have one day a week off, which would alo be your day off. Sometimes I work double shifts, which means you might have to stay with Cassy overnight. _

Then sighing, he clicked post, and waited to see what happened.

XOXOXOX

When Grissom logged onto his e-mails the next, he stared at the mexsage informing him he had seventy eight new e-mails. All of them were from the au pair agency informing him that someone had registered an interest. He flicked through a few, reading the breifly until he came to Matty Bjornerfors' profile. She was twenty one, Swedish and had two brothers and three sisters, all of which she'd helped look after. He remembered Danny's comment about his sister's Swedish au pair and smiled, before clicking reply.

To his surprise, a reply from Matty came before he'd finished working on te computer.

_Hey! I'm good, how are you and your daughter? I'm glad you replied. My brothers are fifteen and nine, and my sisters are twelve, six and two, so I've always helped my mom with them. Then my parents slipt up last year and I gained two step brothers who are seven and fourteen, and I sometimes babysit them too. I would like to go to college in America, but my parents can't afford it as there are so many of us. I had two choices, either go to college here in Sweden, or work so I could follow my dreams. I went for the second option. And since I know so much about kids, I thought becoming an au pair was perfect. If you're still interested, let me know. I look forward to hearing from you. Matty_

Smiling, Grissom sent an e-mail to the agency, requesting that Matty Bjornefors became his au pair. Then he clicked onto her profile again, and looked at her picture properly for the first time and laughed out loud. She was blonde with blue eyes, stereotypically Swedish. Danny would have a field day.


	3. Midnight Snack

**Cassy is two months**

As soon as Cassy started to cry, Grissom was awake. For the first few days, it had take him a minute to remember, but now it felt like Cassy had always been here with him. He glanced at the clock as he got up. Three eighteen am. He moved quietly through the apartment to Cassy's room.

"Hey Cassy," he said, picking her up. "Hungry?"

He carried Cassy, no longer crying, to the kitchen and made up the bottle with one hand. The first time he'd tried to do it while holding Cassy, it had been a disaster. Now it was starting to feel like second nature.

After he'd finished feeding Cassy, Grissom took her through to the living room and sat down, holding Cassy up onto his shoulder, rubbing her back to bring up any gas. When he was sure she didn't have any left, he took her down. Grissom smiled softly, Cassy was already asleep in his arms. He knew he should really put her back in her crib and get some sleep, but he couldn't. He was happy to simply sit and watch his daughter sleep soundly. And at that moment, he knew without any doubts, that he would never regret this choice.


	4. Meet the Grandparent

**Cassy is two and a half months.**

_Hi mom_ Grissom signed, smiling, before hugging his mother.

_Hello, how are you?_ Betty Grissom replied.

_I'm good mom. There's someone I want you to meet_.

Betty frowned, but followed her son through his apartment. He hadn't mentioned meeting anyone new, had he a mysterious new girlfriend? It wouldn't be bad for him to get out. She remembered Gil's friend Danny telling her that her son was a dreadful old bore and really needed to get the hell out of his house more and be in the company of humans for a change instead of bugs. She'd liked Danny, he was good for Gil.

Grissom was nervous about introducing Cassy to his mom. He hadn't told her he was trying to adopt, it wasn't as though he'd been planning on it for a long time. Cassy had turned up and turned his life around so much that it had been impossible to let go. Now she'd been here for almost a month, he figured it was time to own up and admit what he'd done. He led her into Cassy's room, where the little girl was asleep.

_This is Cassy, Cassandra_ he signed. _I adopted her about a month ago. She was abandonned by her biological parents, her father muredered her mother, he's on the run. _

_How old is she?_ Betty asked.

_Two and a half months_, he replied.

_She's beautiful._

_Isn't she?_

Suddenly Cassy woke, but instead of starting to cry when she realised she was being watched by a stranger, she noticed her dad and relaxed.

"Hey Cass," Grissom said, picking her up. She wound one hand into his hair, sitting contentedly in his arms. Betty watched as her son held the child, the way she held onto one of his dark curls and looked about the world curiously, sure she was safe in his arms. And she thought to herself that maybe this would be a good thing for Gil, maybe this would be exactly what he needed.


	5. Family Life

**Cassy is nine months.**

Grissom left his briefcase on one of the chairs in the kitchen, before going through to the living room where he could hear Cassy's giggles. He smiled at the sight of Cassy sitting on the floor with Matty, his au pair.

"Good evening Mr Grissom," Matty said, pronouncing her words with her Swedish accent better than most people who had English as a first language.

"Hi Matty. Has she been good?"

"She is an angel," Matty replied. Cassy held out her arms, making a sound that he recognized as the beginnings of dad, and Grissom bent to pick her up.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I made dinner earlier thank you."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he smiled.

"Have a good night," Matty called on her way out, going back to the one bedroom apartment next door that Grissom had rented for her.

"You too," he replied.

Cassy banged her fist on the plastic table of her high chair, giggling loudly. She always seemed so happy. Grissom alternated between feeding her and eating himself, a routine he'd become adept at over the past few months. Cassy eventually decided she'd become bored of her dinner and pointed at Grissom, again making the sound which would soon become dad.

After he'd finished eating, Grissom carried Cassy back to the living room. He spread out the notes for his latest paper across the coffee table, sitting on the floor so he was close to Cassy. While he worked, Cassy picked up and put down the different shaped blocks, occasionally banging two together and giving her dad a delighted smile when he looked up. Then she crawled over to the play mat Danny had bought her, which had mirrors and flaps, and was printed with pictures of zoo animals, each made of different materials. Despite all his early protestations that Grissom would soon change his mind about adopting Cassy after she'd woken him up in the middle of the night screaming a few times, Danny loved the little girl. He would never admit it, his real emotions were never on display. On the outside the lovable, OCD, workaholic joker, on the inside was a caring a deeply sensitive man. And smart. He'd reached in to Grissom and pulled him out, forcing him to become his friend. Although reluctant at first, Grissom now wouldn't trade the friendship for the world.

After a while, Cassy became bored and decided she wanted the comfort of her daddy's arms again. She crawled back across the carpet and up onto his knee. Grissom glanced down and put one arm around Cassy protectively as he continued putting his notes into order.

When Grissom eventually looked up at the clock, he realised it was far later than he'd meant to work, and Cassy was still on his knee. He looked down, but she had fallen asleep with his arms wrapped around her, her small fist clenched as usual when she slept. Moving carefully so as not to wake her, Grissom stood up, ignoring the pain in his leg that had gone to sleep from sitting on the floor, and carried Cassy to her bedroom.

"Night Cass," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead before going to bed himself.


	6. Simple Pleasures

**Cassy is three.**

Cassy sat cross legged on the floor in front of the balcony window, frowning out at the rain. Grissom sat down beside his daughter.

"What's wrong Cass?" he asked.

"Wet," she complained. "Wanna go play."

"Why don't you play with your horses instead?" he suggested. "Or with Barnaby?"

"Wanna go swings," she replied. Grissom sat, watching her, and considering this carefully. He glanced up at the clouds. Rain in the desert was rare, but this rain storm had been going on for days. Cassy was getting cabin fever. Marlena had grabbed the chance to escape since it was his day off. But the sky was getting lighter. Making his decision, Grissom stood before picking Cassy up.

"Come on then," he said. She looked up at him questioningly. "Let's go play on the swings."

Cassy's face lit up. Before leaving the house, Grissom helped her put on her raincoat, then her wellies, and finally her hat. Quickly slipping on his jacket, he took her hand and headed out of the apartment. Once outside, Cassy skipped along beside him, happy to be out in the fresh air and not caring a bit about the rain.

When they reached the park, she made a beeline for the swings, jumping up then looking eagerly at her dad. Smiling, Grissom pulled her back, the releasing the swing. However, the swings soon lost their appeal as Cassy found something much more entertaining: puddles. Apparently, jumping in puddless was the best kind of fun you could have. A look of sheer delight covered her face. It was amazing, Grissom marvelled, that something so simple as a puddle could bring so much joy to a little girl.


	7. Hello and Goodbye Part 1

**Cassy is three.**

Something was up. Danny was quiet. This never happened. Never. So Grissom knew it had to be serious. He just didn't know how to broach the subject of the rather large elephant in the room. So he focused on closing the case. Probably his last case he realised. Ecklie had approved his transfer to night shift.

Two hours later and they were leaving interrogation after an interview which had proved to be less than useless when Danny suddenly stopped and said, "You're leaving?"

Grissom turned, surprised at the hurt in his friend's voice.

"I'm only going to night shift," he replied.

"But you're leaving me," Danny pointed out. "You're my partner."

"Danny we don't have partners, we're CSIs, not detectives."

"Come on Griss, how many times have we worked with anyone else?" he scoffed. "I can count them on one hand. And now you're leaving."

"We'll still see each other."

"When?"

"Danny-"

"I know why you're doing it. It's for Cassy, I get that. But I would've prefered if you'd told me as opposed to one of the lab techs."

Grissom didn't know what to say.

"Do you want me to apologise?" he asked.

"No," Danny said, before pushing past him.

**XOXOXOX**

A week and a breaking and entering case later, and Grissom was officially a member of the night shift team. It was dusk when he entered the CSI building, it felt strange to be starting work when he was usually on his way home.

"Hey Griss."

He turned and saw Danny jogging towards him.

"You about to, uh, start your shift?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Grissom replied.

"Listen man, I'm sorry about the other day. I was being stupid and selfish and pig headed and everything came out wrong."

"Forget it," Grissom replied. "I already have."

"Good," Danny smiled.

"So how was the shift?" Grissom asked, knowing he should really get a move on but not really caring.

"Four nineteen over at Henderson. Working with Kurt. Least it's not Ecklie." Danny shuddered.

"You'll never work with Ecklie," Grissom reassured him.

"How d'you know?"

"Cause he hates your guts."

Danny considered this for a moment before breaking into a smile.

"Yeah he does," he nodded. "And I wouldn't have it any other way!" They laughed.

"See you Danny."

"Bye Griss. Hey Gil?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck boss."

"I was never your boss," Grissom frowned.

"Yeah you are," Danny replied.

TBC


	8. Hello and Goodbye Part 2

**Cassy is three.**

"_Hey Gil?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Good luck boss."_

"_I was never your boss," Grissom frowned._

"_Yeah you are," Danny replied._

Grissom watched Danny walk out the door, wishing that his friend would still be by his side when working on cases. Eventually he had to force himself to move.

He had no idea it was the last time he would see Danny alive.

XOXOXOX

"Come in," Brass called without looking up from the report he was ready. He glanced up eventually. "Can I help you?"

"Gil Grissom, transfer from dayshift."

"Oh yeah, come in," Brass replied. "Detective Jim Brass."

"Doctor Gil Grissom," Grissom said, shaking Brass' hand.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the team."

Brass lead Grissom to the break room where three CSIs were in the middle of a conversation.

"You were totally checking her out Rick," teased a blonde woman with thick black eyeliner.

"Did not."

"Oh you so did," she retorted.

"Did not."

"Guys, sorry to interrupt," Brass broke in. "This is Doctor Gil Grissom, he's joining us from day shift. I'll let you do your own introductions. Where's Catherine?"

"Babysitter issues," one of the men replied.

"Warrick Brown, level one CSI," the man who the blonde had been teasing said, offering Grissom his hand."That's Kiera Ellison and Matt Johnson."

"Hi," Grissom said.

"Doctor of what?" Kiera asked, sounding bored.

"Entomology, it's the study-"

"Of bugs, I know, I'm not stupid," Kiera snapped.

"It's just most people don't know-"

"Well I'm not most people," she interrupted.

"Sorry I'm late, Eddie's out and the babysitter cancelled at the last minute so I had to find another one," said a second woman as she walked into the break room. She noticed Grissom. "Hi," she smiled. "Catherine Willows."

"Gil Grissom," he replied.

"From dayshift right?"

"Yeah."

"Welcome aboard."

XOXOXOX

When Brass partnered Grissom with Kiera Ellison, he knew it was going to be like walking on broken glass. He'd noticed, even around her friends, her eyes would take on a guarded almost fearful look. He wondered what her story was; abused, abandoned, God he hoped Cassy would never get a look like that if so. As soon as they arrived at the crime scene Kiera had her hair tied back, every hair meticulously in place, and her gloves on as soon as she left the car. Whatever she was, she was obviously professional.

"The victim is Carol Carter, she lived here alone, single, thirty two, kindergarden teacher. Neighbour found her and called it in. I'll be taking her statement if you need anything," Detective Mulhony said.

Grissom followed Kiera into the house. He pretended not to hear her intake of breath when she saw the victim, who had obviously been badly beaten before her death. It reminded Grissom of Lara Reynolds' body, he almost didn't want to know what it reminded Kiera of. He knelt down and studied the body, but memories of Lara Reynolds' murder continued to flood back to him. There were similarities.

"I've seen a murder like this before," he said eventually.

"D'you think it's the same guy?" Kiera asked, her voice controlled. Grissom didn't know if he wanted Jason Archer to be responsible of not. On one hand, they could finally catch him, on the other he could get away with yet another murder. And he didn't want Archer anywhere near Cassy. Ever.

"I don't know..." he replied eventually. "Last time it was different, she was a prostitute, he got her pregnant and she didn't tell him until it was too late. I don't know," he repeated.

"Let's get to work," Kiera said.

Once the scene was processed and the coroner had taken the body, Grissom and Kiera were packing up their kit in silence. They'd worked the whole scene in silence. Grissom had tried talking a few times and been met by a stoney glare.

"Tell me about the other case," Kiera said suddenly.

"What?"

"The case this reminded you of," she said. He hesitated. "Doesn't matter," she shrugged.

"What does it remind you of?" he asked. She looked at him in surprise.

"It doesn't remind me of anything,' she replied defiantly, daring him to argue.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Whatever you say," he shrugged. Kiera grabbed her kit and stormed out the house.

XOXOXOX

"Is there a reason why Kiera asked Brass to switch assignments with me?"

Grissom looked up from the microscope to see Catherine Willows standing in the doorway.

"I don't think she liked me," he joked.

"Kiera doesn't like anyone," Catherine replied.

"I think she likes me even less."

"What happened?" she asked, pulling up a stool.

"I told her that our case reminded me of another one, when she asked me about it I didn't reply," he explained. "Then I asked her what it reminded her of and she got mad when I insisted it reminded her of something."

"Kiera's personal business is Kiera's personal business," Catherine quoted. "Do you think it's the same guy then?"

"I hope not," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want Jason Archer anywhere near my daughter ever again. And if that means he's never caught for murder, fine, as long as Cassy's safe."

And all the time, Grissom couldn't help but wonder why the hell he was telling Catherine Willows this.


	9. Bad Dreams

**Cassy is four**.

"Daddy!" Cassy shouted, clutching her teddy bear tightly and pulling the covers up under he chin. Her bottom lip wobbled and her eyes were filled with tears as they darted around the dark room, the only light coming from her bedside lamp. The door opened and she sat up. "Daddy," she repeated, holding out her arms.

"Hey Cass, what is it?" Grissom asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Cassy climbed onto his lap.

"Bad dream," she mumbled, hugging him tightly.

"D'you want to tell me about it?" he asked, gently rubbing her back. She shook her head. "Well whatever it is, it can't hurt you now," he said. "I'm sure if you go back to sleep Teddy'll protect you."

"No! Wanna stay with you!"

"Cassy..."

"Please!" Cassy looked at him with her big brown eyes, still filled with tears and Grissom knew he had no hope.

"Come on then," he relented, picking her up and carrying her - and Teddy - back to his room.

"Story daddy," Cassy said.

"Which one?" Grissom asked, knowing there was no way out.

"Any one."

"Okay," Grissom replied. Cassy snuggled under the covers and lay down, looking up expectantly. "Once upon a time, there was a prince, who was turned into a beast by a sorceress until he found love or until the last petal fell from an enchanted rose..." He frowned, struggling to remember the story from Cassy's video tape, and being eternally grateful that Danny couldn't hear him. However, he glanced down at him daughter and saw she'd already fallen asleep.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"And they all lived happily ever after," he whispered.


	10. New Starts

**Cassy is five.**

He was not supposed to be this nervous. It wasn't him starting school for the first time. So why was he shit scared?

Cassy on the other hand, was fine. Cassy seemed calm, if a little excited. But there was absolutely no trace of nerves at all. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. Which, when you thought about it, really wasn't fair. Because he wasn't going to get any sleep today while she was at school, then he would have to go to work tonight, and chances were Cassy would be fine.

But what if she wasn't?

What if she hated school? What if some of the older kids picked on her? What if she cried? The one thing he hated most of all was seeing her cry, and the older she became, the more he hated it. Or what if she struggled too much with the classwork? He'd always thought Cassy was smart and exceptionally bright for her age, but he was her dad, he was supposed to think that, right? What if she struggled so much that she was held back a year?

_Calm down_, Grissom told himself. _She hasn't even gone for one day, and already you're holding her back_.

"Daddy, look at my new shoes!" Cassy said proudly, pointing at her shiny, patent black school shoes. "And Halle put my hair up in a French braid see?"

"Beautiful," Grissom said, kissing the top of her head.

"Can I get my new bag now?" she asked.

"Yes, and get your coat."

Cassy ran off, more excited about all these new things than about going to school. Not only her shoes and her bag, but her dress and school jumper. She was very impressed with the fact that the school's colour was red - her current joint favourite colour, along with blue and yellow. Although by next week it would probably be green, purple and orange.

"Ready?" Grissom asked when she returned. Cassy nodded. "Let's go," he said, holding out his hand.

XOXOXOX

When they arrived at Cassy's school, the stampede of butterflies had returned to Grissom's stomach. _She'll be fine_, he repeated to himself. For the first time, Cassy seemed to realise exactly what going to school entailed. And it meant leaving her dad. Okay, so he left her when he went to work but that was different. She was asleep and had Halle so it didn't matter. But at school she wouldn't have her dad or Halle. And she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Who will I talk to without you or Halle?" she asked.

"You'll find someone else to talk to," Grissom replied, not sure who he was trying to convince more, her or himself.

"Who?"

"A girl or boy who's in your class."

Cassy wasn't sure she believed him. But daddy always told the truth, so he had to be right. Only, there were lots of other boys and girls, and they all looked older and like they had friends already. Reluctantly she climbed out of the car and took his hand as they walked up to classroom.

XOXOXOX

Sure enough, Cassy had been fine, and he hadn't slept at all. Grissom was pleased to note that Catherine looked similarly sleep deprived.

"First day of school too?" he asked.

"Yeah. I was terrified the school was going to call and say Lindsey wouldn't stop crying or something and I wouldn't hear the phone, so I didn't sleep. She was fine, and then I couldn't sleep because she wanted to talk about it all afternoon. Go figure."

Kiera walked into the break room and poured herself a mug of coffee, frowning at them.

"You two look like hell," she said. "Didn't you sleep at all?"

"No," Grissom replied.

"Me neither. Boyfriend's fault," she shrugged. "Shoulda known. Being single has it's plus points."

"You could always just go back to your own apartment," he pointed out.

"I could..." Kiera considered the possibility, deciding it was an unlikely one.

XOXOXOX

"And my best friend sits next to me, she's called Lindsey, and she's really pretty and has long hair too but it's the same colour as Matty's," Cassy explained.

"What's her name?" Grissom frowned.

"Lindsey."

"What's her last name?"

"Will... Willows?"

Grissom smiled.

XOXOXOX

"Willows."

"Hey Catherine. I think our daughters just became best friends."


	11. Talk to the Hand

**I can't sign, although I would love to be able to. Anything I mention in here I found out online so if it's wrong, I apologise!**

**Christina x**

**XOXOXOX**

**Cassy is five.**

"C-a-s-s-y," Cassy spelled out slowly as she wrote. "Cassy. Look daddy!"

Grissom looked up from his crossword, he smiled at the sight of her wobbly writing, with the S's written back to front.

"Nearly," he said, leaning over to write it correctly underneath.

"I'll try again," she said. "C-a-s-s-y. Better?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Perfect."

"When we go to see Nana I can show her too!" Cassy said excitedly.

"Of course."

"Daddy. How do I say my name with my hands?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you talk to Nana you use your hands. How do you say my name with your hands?"

Grissom realised she was talking about sign language. Cassy knew that his mom couldn't hear, and understood that he had to translate their conversation. It often made things difficult, and he knew at some point Cassy would learn sign language, but he'd expected it to be when she was older. But then, why not now? At school she was learning how to write the alphabet, why shouldn't she learn how to sign it too? He pushed aside the crossword and pen.

"Okay, this is C," he said, demonstrating. Cassy copied his action. "Good, now this is A," he continued. "And S."

"That's the same!"

"No, the thumb is different, see?"

Cassy frowned, looking at her hand, moving her thumb back and forth between the two positions.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Yes," Grissom replied. "And this is Y."

"It looks like a Y," Cassy said.

"Spell it to me then."

Frowning in concentration, Cassy slowly spelled out her name.

"Good," Grissom smiled. "Keep your hand at your shoulder, and don't bounce your hand, except when you have a double letter, like the two S's in Cassy."

"Okay." Cassy spelled her name out again. "Will you teach me how to speak with my hands?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

XOXOXOX

Cassy took to sign language like the proverbial duck to water. Each night she would run through her alphabets, saying the letters out loud while signing. Often, when she was watching cartoons or a movie, Grissom would glance at her and see her frowning in concentration, staring at the screen but running through the ASL alphabet at the same time. Soon she could finger-spell whole words. Grissom began teaching her the signs for specific words, starting with 'dad', 'grandma', 'water' and 'hungry'. They began to communicate in sign language as well as with words. When she wanted a drink, Cassy would sign water. When she was hungry, she would sign it. Sometimes she would finger-spell words.

Grissom was proud of her. She was learning sign language as quickly as she was learning how to read and write. He was most proud of the fact that she'd chosen to learn to sign, or as she called it, talk with her hands. He knew that the reason Cassy had taken so quickly to it was that she had asked him to teach her. If he'd told her to learn she wouldn't have been nearly as interested.

About a week later, Grissom sat at the kitchen table, staring into his mug of coffee. Brass had let him and Kiera leave early once their suspect had been interrogated. Their simple open and shut B and E had turned into a triple homicide, and with Catherine and Warrick working on a hit and run and Matt investigating a lead on a missing persons case out of town, it had been up to the two of them to solve it. And they had. But it had shaken them both. Such brutal murders were hard enough, but of children... Grissom couldn't get the images of the bodies out of his head, except in his mind they were all Cassy at various stages in her life.

Footsteps drew him out of his reverie. Cassy raced into the kitchen, still in her pyjammas and jumped onto his knee.

_Dad, dad, dad! _she signed quickly.

"What is it?" he replied.

_I love you_ she signed proudly.

_I love you_ he signed back, smiling, before holding her tight.

XOXOXOX

"I can show nana my signing, can't I?" Cassy said, twisting in the passenger seat to face her dad.

"Course you can," Grissom replied.

"Think she'll be proud of me?"

"Of course she will. I am."

Despite her reservations when Gil had first introduced his adopted daughter to her, Betty Grissom loved her granddaughter. She was as proud as any other grandparent in the world. She loved watching her granddaughter's infinite curiosity, especially when it came to her latest fascination, butterflies. It seemed having an entomologist father was rubbing off on her. She smiled, watching Cassy race around the garden before returning to where Betty and Grissom sat to report that there were no butterflies. She frowned slightly as Cassy looked at Grissom pointedly before asking what was obviously, "_Now_?"

_Cassy has something she wants to show you, _Grissom signed. Cassy turned to her grandmother.

_Nana, _she signed proudly before fingerspelling, _Look_.

_Well done!_'Betty signed back. Grissom translated.

_I love you_, Cassy signed. Biting back proud tears, Betty signed _I love you_ back.


	12. Blind Sided

**Cassy is five.**

"What happened?" Grissom asked.

"What are you talking about?" Kiera asked as she tied up her now pink streaked blonde hair.

"The bruise by your right eye," he replied.

"What bruise?"

'The one you're trying to hide with make-up."

"You just concentrate on the road, you don't need to worry about me Gil. I slipped in the shower. Anyway, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," she retorted, without the venom that all her replies had once had. Knowing better than to push the matter, Grissom dropped it. Since they'd met, Kiera had slowly thawed a little towards him. She was still the ice queen, but Grissom could see now it was how she treated everyone. Usually she didn't let anyone get close, however with Grissom, she'd made an exception. They were close.

When at crime scenes they could play off each other, coming up with theories and working through each one. They were an efficient team. Grissom found himself telling Kiera more and more about Cassy. However Kiera kept it strictly business between them. She never revealed any personal information, unless by accident, and as a rule, Kiera did not have accidents. Except every so often she had a mysterious bruise. Or not so mysterious if you believed her perfectly fabricated stories. Grissom guessed that a CSI was probably the worst person to be abused. They knew what a bruise looked like and what caused it, and could come up with a plausible story to cover it up. But there was no doubt in his mind that someone, or multiple someones, was beating Kara up.

XOXOXOX

"Another case solved, in record time. If you two keep this up you'll make the whole lab look bad," Brass joked. Grissom smiled. "Speaking of your partner in solving crime, have you seen her tonight?"

"No," Grissom replied. It was only fifteen minutes after their shift had started, the latest Kiera had ever arrived was forty five minutes and that was because of a car crash and a long diversion that she had moaned about for days.

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to split up the dream team then. You and Catherine can take this four nineteen downtown. When Kiera turns up I'll put her on the case too."

"No answer," Grissom said, hanging up his phone.

"Really? That's not like her," Catherine replied, climbing out of the driver's seat. "She always answers when you call." Grissom frowned, looking at Catherine's playful grin.

"What are you implying?" he asked as they climbed the stairs to the victim's apartment.

"That Kiera always answers your calls no matter where she is or what she's doing."

"So?"

"Never mind Grissom."

"Grissom, Catherine," O'Rielly greeted them. "It's a bad one. Girl beaten to death by the looks of it. No ID. Apartment belongs to Craig Martin. Coroner's been in and says it's okay to move the body."

"Thanks O'Rielly," Catherine replied, following Grissom into the apartment.

The victim's contorted body was lying in the doorway of the bedroom, face down, bloodied and beaten.

"Looks like she was trying to get away," Grissom observed quietly, pulling on a pair of gloves.

"She didn't make it," Catherine added sadly. Grissom picked a fibre from her hair, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was off. He knew it, he felt it in his bones. They worked quietly, speaking only when they found something. Grissom liked Catherine, he really did, and he considered her a friend, but he missed the banter he had with Kiera, how they bounced theories off each other, dissecting each and every one.

Grissom checked his cell phone but they were in range and there were no missed calls. Still no Kiera. Grissom stood up slowly, looking around for Catherine, when he noticed it. To anyone else, it was just a bracelet. Simple, elegant, silver ID bracelet, left discarded on the floor. As he moved closer, he saw it had been broken. Glancing back at the victim's left wrist he saw a red mark and a bruise, indicating that it had been violently torn from her wrist, probably during the beating. Butterflies began to pound in his stomach as he picked it up. Bile rose in his throat as he read the inscription. He moved back to the body as if in a dream. He didn't even hear Catherine say his name.

"Can you give me a hand?" he asked, his voice hollow. He didn't notice Catherine's worried frown as she crouched on the opposite side of the body. Together they lifted the body, so the victim's face rose to face Grissom. Time seemed to stop. The only sound was the blood pounding in his ears. Eventually he tore his eyes from the victim's face to meet Catherine's, which were filled with worry and said the two words which threatened to break his heart.

"It's Kiera."

XOXOXOX

Grissom bent to splash water on his face again, before leaning on the sink and staring at his reflection in the mirror of the CSI men's room.

"Kiera..." he whispered. She was gone. His best friend and closest confidant was gone. He hadn't recognised her immediately because her hair was scarlet red. He now remembered their last conversation.

"_See you later Griss."_

"_Bye Kiera. Plans?"_

"_Sort of. Dying my hair tonight." She gave him a cheeky grin._

"_Again?" he teased._

"_Yep. Next time you see me I'll be a red head."_

"_Have fun," he called after her. She waved back over her shoulder._

Hanging his head, he blinked back tears. All those times he'd asked her about bruises or cuts, all those times and she never said anything. She could've just said _something_, and she would never have to go back to whoever did this to her. He would've protected her. He didn't know if Catherine was right, if Kiera had feelings for him. But he knew he loved her. Whether it was platonically or romantically he didn't know. But he cared for her, and would've done anything to help her.

But she should've known that. They were friends for Christ's sake! Apparently friendship wasn't strong enough though. Apparently he hadn't been enough to make her walk away.

XOXOXOX

"Tell me you have something," Grissom snapped, striding into the DNA lab with renewed determination. Whoever had done this to Kiera was sure as hell not going to get away with it.

"I've got something," Martin, the DNA tech, replied. "Doctor Robbins sent me up these scrapings from under her fingernails. They match an unsolved murder from three months ago. Victim was a Sophia Artez, beaten to death over in Henderson."

"And?"

"That's it. The murderer isn't on file." Martin held his breath and waited anxiously for Grissom to blow up. He'd never seen the CSI this mad. Instead, Grissom turned on his heel and marched out of the lab.

"Grissom," Catherine called, spotting him pass the break room. "Grissom!" she repeated running after him. "Hey! Where's the fire?"

"Do you have something? Because if not I'd like to get back to work," he replied, feeling the lump return to his throat.

"I miss her too," Catherine said quietly.

"Hey you two!" Brass called, leaning out of his office. "Would you be interested in coming with me to speak to a Craig Martin?"

"You have to ask?" Catherine replied.

XOXOXOX

"Make sure he doesn't say or do anything stupid," Brass said quietly to Catherine. She glanced at the determined look on Grissom's face and nodded. Brass knocked on the door and Catherine casually positioned herself next to Grissom, so she could drag his sorry ass out of there if it got out of line. The hotel room door opened slowly.

"Yeah?" the man who'd answered asked suspiciously.

"Are you Craig Martin?" Brass asked. After quickly taking in Brass' badge and the look on Grissom's face, he nodded quickly. "We'd like to talk to you about Kiera Ellison," Brass continued, waiting to gauge Craig's reaction.

"Okay," Craig replied. "Come in."

"So how do you know Kiera?" Brass asked once they were inside.

"She's my girlfriend," Craig replied.

"Been together long?"

"Few years, on and off. You know how it is," he shrugged.

"Living together?"

"Sometimes." Craig leaned back in his seat, looking up. The ceiling appeared much more interesting to him than anything Brass had to say.

"You see Craig, there's just one little thing bugging me," Brass said. "You're staying in a hotel room when you have a perfectly good apartment downtown. Why is that?"

Craig pursed his lips, meeting Brass' gaze icily.

"Problem with the plumbing," he replied eventually.

"Really? I didn't see a plumber there," Catherine said. She turned to Grissom. "Did you?"

"No."

"Why were you in my apartment?" Craig asked.

"Because Kiera Ellison was beaten to death at six thirty last night and according to reception you checked in here at seven fifteen." Brass turned to the two CSIs. "How long do you think it takes to get here from his apartment?"

"Forty five minutes," Catherine replied.

"If you think I had anything to do with Kiera's death, you're wrong," Craig told them defiantly.

"In that case you won't mind giving us a DNA sample," Grissom said.

"No way!"

"Something to hide?" Brass asked.

"You're not getting my DNA on file."

"If you're innocent, what are you afraid of?" Catherine raised her eyebrows.

"I'm not afraid. But for all I know you guys could be framing me. Or someone else could! I left my apartment at five last night, I had dinner at a friend's!"

"According to the security guard at you apartment building you left at six thirty two," Brass said.

"That guy's always hated me!"

"I wonder why," Grissom said.

"I've heard enough," Brass interrupted as Craig scowled at Grissom. "Craig Martin, you are under arrest for the murder of Kiera Ellison."

XOXOXOX

"It's a match," Martin said, handing the printout of his results to catherine.

"Thank goodness," she said. "I about had a heart attack when Brass arrested Martin. I thought it was only Grissom I had to worry about."

"I would pay to watch that interrogation," Martin smiled. "Grissom and Brass and Kiera's murderer. Wow, that would be some show!"

To Catherine's surprise, Brass was waiting for her to join him in interrogation.

"Care to help me give him the good news?" he asked. 

"Where's Grissom?" she asked. Brass shrugged and, not seeing her partner, she followed him into interrogation.

Grissom stood behind the glass, watching the interrogation. For some reason he couldn't make himself go in with Brass. But at the same time, he had to see this. When he was told his DNA matched, Craig didn't look upset, didn't deny it.

"Why'd you do it?" Catherine asked.

"Stupid bitch thought she could leave me," Craig replied calmly.

"_Where are you going?" Craig asked, after waking and noticing Kiera was no longer beside him. She was sitting on the end of the bed, pulling on her jeans. _

"_I'm going," she said simply._

"_I can see that. Where?"_

"_It's over Craig." She stood up and began searching for her shirt. "I've found someone else. I don't know how he feels about me, or if he feels for me, but when I'm with him, I feel like I can do anything. Like I can be anyone. And I like that feeling. I'm sorry, but I'm gone."_

_Anger overtook him. Craig jumped up and slapped her across the face. Kiera tried to run out the door, but his fist collided with the back of her neck, causing her to fall to the ground._

"She was mine," Craig spat.

"What about Sophia Artez?" Brass asked. "Was she yours too?"

Grissom had heard enough. He left the room without looking back.

XOXOXOX

"Daddy!" Cassy cried in delight, running up to him.

"Hey Cass," he said, forcing a smile and lifting her onto his knee.

"You look sad," she observed.

"I am sad," he admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I just lost my best friend," he explained.

"Can't you find her again?"

Grissom chuckled at her childish innocence, believing that something lost could be found again. He shook his head.

"No," he replied. "No I can't find her."

"But you can find _anything_," Cassy argued.

"Not everything Cassy."

"Almost everything. You found my Barbie when it went missing. And you found my necklace. And you find people at work."

"I can't bring her back though," he said. Cassy frowned, trying to figure out if she could find this mysterious best friend, before wrapping her arms tightly around her dad's neck and hugging him.


	13. Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three

**Cassy is six.**

Cassy's brow was furrowed in deep concentration. She pursed her lips, observing the scene, taking in every detail and storing them away, her brain calculating, thinking, ticking away inside her head. Grissom watched her, sure he could practically hear the cogs in her brain moving, except for the fact that, as a scientist, he knew there were no cogs in the brain. Still, it was a good expression, and very accurate at that moment in time. Eventually Cassy made her move and rolled the two dice.

"One, two, three, four," she said, counting as she moved her counter. "Ladder! I get to go up!" she sang smugly. "I'm in the lead! Your turn." She tossed her dad the dice.

The Snakes and Ladders board was a birthday present from Brass. In the three days since her birthday, Cassy had been fascinated, demanding her father play a game with her before work. Grissom was only too happy to oblige. It meant spending more time with his daughter, which was without a doubt his favourite pastime. He took the dice from her and rolled.

"Six!" Cassy cried in delight. "You're on a snake!"

XOXOXOX

"What's up?"

Grissom was broken out of his reverie by the thick Texas accent of Nick Stokes, the new CSI level two who'd been brought in to take Kiera's place on the team. They'd finished processing the scene, trace was collected, prints had been dusted, the coroner has removed the body, and now Grissom was standing staring at where the body had been lying. In his mind's eye her could see Natalie James' body lying there, the gunshot wound gaping in her forehead.

"Just thinking," he replied.

"What about?" Nick asked.

"Natalie James had a three year old daughter. She should've been home when her mother was killed. We assumed she was with a friend or relative. What if she wasn't?"

"Well she's not here. We've processed every inch of this place," Nick pointed out.

"So where would she go?"

"I dunno," Nick shrugged.

"You're a three year old kid, you're scared. There's bad people in your house and strange noises. You're mom is probably screaming or sounding scared too. What do you do?"

"Find somewhere safe I guess."

"They only moved here a month ago, Natalie's parents live in Denver. So where is safe?"

"Well I'd want to get out the house," Nick said slowly, thinking it through. "And since the killer-"

"Or killers," Grissom interjected.

"Came in the front, I'd go out the back."

Grissom followed Nick out the door into the back yard.

"Now what?" he asked. Nick looked around, taking in the sparse garden.

"Nowhere to hide and I can still hear the noises from inside so even though I know I'm probably not allowed out alone, I go out the gate."

On the street, Nick looked around again, Grissom watching him.

"Right..." Nick said. "I don't know. Go to a neighbour's maybe?"

"A stranger's house?" Grissom asked. "When you were a kid, what did your mom say about strangers?"

"Never go into a stranger's car or house," Nick replied, realising the older man was right. "So where would she go?"

"When you were a kid, what was your favourite place?"

"The treehouse in my back garden," he replied eventually.

"And you felt safe there? Even though it wasn't always necessarily safe?"

"Yeah..." Nick said. "Yeah, I guess so. It was a rickety old thing, but it was my space, you know?"

"And where do kids love to go?"

"The park," Nick realised. "Which way?"

Nick followed Grissom down the street. In the distance they could hear the dull noise of the traffic, mixed with the occasional siren and music from the strip. But in this neighbourhood, everything was quiet. At the end of the street they found a park. It wasn't very big, Nick was pretty sure the garden of his parent's ranch was bigger, but it had a few swings, a slide and a tower like climbing frame.

"I don't see anyone," Nick said. Grissom pushed open the gate and began to look around. His gaze fixed on the tower of the climbing frame. It was the highest point, and surrounded by solid walls on two sides to prevent anyone falling. The third side was the entrance to a slide.

"Wait here," he called over his shoulder.

Grissom walked round and started going up the steps to the tower. Once he turned the corner he could see right to the top. Huddled in the corner was a little girl, presumably Natalie James' daughter, her knees drawn up and her face pressed into them, muffling her sobs.

"Hey," Grissom said gently, smiling. The little girl's head shot up, her eyes wide with fear. "Can I come up?" he asked. She stared at him. Moving slowly, Grissom took out his ID. "I work with the police," he said, throwing the ID up. The girl picked it up and studied it, looking from the picture to Grissom. "I know it doesn't really look like me," he continued. "I think I was having a bad hair day. But it is me. So can I come up?"

She nodded, putting down his ID. Grissom walked up slowly, sitting down on the edge of the step.

"My name's Gil, what's your name?"

"Rebecca," came the barely audible answer. If Grissom hadn't been able to lip read, he wouldn't have been sure of her answer.

"It's nice up here, isn't it? You can see the stars a bit too." Rebecca looked up. "Were you not a bit scared up here on your own at night? I would be."

"I'm not supposed to go out on my own," she whispered.

"Why did you?"

"I was scared."

"Scared of what?" he asked. Rebecca shook her head. Grissom decided to try another tactic.

"Do you like coming to the park with your mom?" he asked. She nodded. "I have a little girl called Cassy and she loves the park too. She likes going with her Nana."

"My nana and grandpa don't live here," Rebecca told him sadly.

"Cassy says she feels safe at the park. Is that why you came here? Because you were scared and your nana and grandpa don't live here? Because you feel safe here?"

"There was angry men and they were shouting then my mommy was shouting and she was scared so I went outside cause I didn't like it." Rebecca started to cry again. "And she says not to speak to people I dunno."

"What does she say about the police?" Grissom asked.

"That if I'm in trouble I should speak to them But I couldn't see any!"

"I'm police, so you did what your mom said, you spoke to the police," he said reassuringly.

"But you don't wear the uniform."

"I'm a special kind of police. Me and my friend Nicky, he's down there see? And see these vests we're wearing? They're special police vests."

"I need to find my mommy!" Rebecca said, looking up at him with tear filled eyes. Grissom closed his eyes briefly.

"Come with me, I'll take you to the police station so you're safe. Then we'll go find your mom, okay?"

Rebecca nodded, and allowed Grissom to pick her up. Nick looked surprised when he appeared carrying the little girl.

"Rebecca, this is Nicky," Grissom said. "Nick, this is Rebecca James. We're going to take her to the police station then we're going to look for her mom." Luckily Nick caught on, and didn't mention why they'd been there in the first place.

XOXOXOX

"How did you get that kid to trust you?" Nick asked once they were back at the lab.

"I talked about my daughter," Grissom replied absentmindedly, looking down the microscope, comparing one of Natalie and Rebecca's hairs to one found at the scene.

"You have a daughter?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Cassy..." Grissom said.

"How old is she?" Nick stared at the computer screen, waiting for a DNA match.

"She was six three days ago." Grissom stood up. "This hair doesn't match Natalie or Rebecca. We're looking for a killer with black hair."

"Wow, we have a match," Nick announced. "Harold Lane."

"Does he have black hair?"

"Blonde. We're looking for another suspect. So, did I pass?"

"Pass what?" Grissom frowned.

"Your test."

"When you made me figure out where Rebecca was. You were testing me. Did I pass?"

"The jury's still out," Grissom smiled.


	14. That's Entertainment

**Cassy is six.**

8.30pm

Greg Sanders was starting to think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Oh yes, to begin with spinning round and around and around on his chair was fun. It was still fun. But after fifteen minutes of seeing the roof spinning above him, he was starting the feel a bit sick. Actually more than a bit. His hand shot out, grabbing the edge of the desk, and he came to a shuddering stop. Sitting up slowly, the whole lab swam before his eyes.

"Definitely a bad idea," he muttered, waiting for the room to come back into focus. The shift had just started and this being Vegas on a Friday night, he was pretty sure in an hour or so he'd be busy. Until then though, spinning on his chair it is.

Just as he was about to start another round of spinning, the Assistant Shift Supervisor, Gil Grissom entered his lab. Scrambling to stop his chair from spinning, Greg ended up pulling his chair right under the desk, temporarily winding himself. Carefully Greg went over what he'd learned about Grissom in his head; entomologist... bugs... only recently promoted to assistant shift supervisor... last guy is currently suspended...

"Greg, are you busy?" Grissom asked.

"Nope," he replied, noticing how stressed the CSI looked.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you babysit?"

"Huh?" Greg stared in confusion. That was not a request he'd been expecting.

"Can you babysit my daughter? My au pair has the flu. I was planning on setting her up in the break room, but if you could watch that would be even better."

"Okay, sure," Greg replied.

Greg watched curiously for Grissom's return, at the same time trying to make it look like he wasn't. When at last Grissom reappeared, he had a young girl at his side. Greg studied her face. She had brown hair and eyes, and did look a little like Grissom in a way he guessed.

"Cass, this is Greg, you're going to stay with him while I work, okay?" Grissom said.

"Okay," the girl replied.

"Greg, this is Cassy," he said, turning to the lab tech. Noticing Cassy was otherwise distracted he added, "If you have any problems, just let her watch Scooby Doo on your computer. Otherwise, call me."

"No problem Griss," Greg grinned.

"Thanks, I owe you. See you Cassy."

"Bye daddy," Cassy called.

Cassy and Greg stared at each other for a minute, taking the other in.

"What are these?" Cassy asked, pointing to the gecko tank.

"They're geckoes," Greg replied. "The one on the right is called Spots and the one on the left is called Socks."

"Why?" she frowned.

"Why not?" he shrugged. Cassy considered this, before nodding. Greg released a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.

Now all he had to do was find out how to keep Cassy occupied for the shift.

9.02pm

When Catherine walked into the DNA lab, she was surprised to see Cassy sitting at Greg's desk, frowning in concentration as she bent over a piece of paper. Catherine recognised this face probably meant Cassy was in the middle of creating a fabulous piece of artwork.

"Hey Cassy," she smiled.

"Hi Catherine," the girl replied, looking up.

"What are you doing?" Catherine asked.

"I'm doing a portrait of Spots and Socks. What do you think?"

"It's great. Why are you here?"

"Cause Tali has the flu," Cassy replied, wrinkling her nose. "So dad said Greg would look after me. Do you want to see the picture I did of Greg?"

"Sure sweetie." Catherine bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Considering she was only six, the picture was very good. Although considering the rather disgruntled look Greg gave the picture, he clearly didn't understand the limit of a six year old's artistic talent. His face was bright blue, his hair green, one eye was the size of a dime, the other was the size coaster. She'd also coloured his lips purple and his nose bright red. "It's wonderful Cassy. I'm sure Greg'll stick it up on the wall."

"Here are the DNA samples from under my vic's fingernails," Catherine said, handing it to Greg. "Call me or Warrick when you have the results."

"Your wish is my command," Greg replied.

9.56pm

"Hey Greggo, can you run these hair samples for me?" Nick asked, entering the DNA lab without looking up from the file he was reading. When he looked up, he did a double take, before pressing his lips together and trying hard not to burst out laughing. Greg was wearing a necklace and bracelet that looked like something out of _The Flintstones_. On closer inspection he realised it was the putty used to make moulds.

"Don't," Greg warned quietly.

"One question, why?"

"Cassy wanted to make jewellery," he explained, pointing to the little girl who was wearing a similar necklace. Nicky looked at her curiously. After hearing about her during his first case with Grissom, he was curious to see just what the bug man's daughter looked like. Apart from the homemade jewellery, she looked surprisingly normal.

"Have fun," Nick said, failing to suppress a grin, as he handed Greg his samples.

11.27pm

Warrick glanced up as he passed the DNA lab, the loud music distracting him from the autopsy report he was reading.

"What the...?" he frowned. The DNA tech as wearing a slightly wonky and definitely home made headdress, complete with feathers and glitter and a necklace made from putty and string. Greg noticed him and beckoned eagerly with his hands.

"I have your results," he said, handing Warrick the piece of paper.

"Thanks..." Warrick was unable to stop looking at the head dress. "You know, I'm pretty sure that's not regulation."

"What? Oh the the hat. Cassy's idea." He pointed at the little girl who was asleep in the corner of the lab.

"She's asleep. So you could take it off now."

"Yeah... But I kinda like it."

"I really wouldn't admit that," Warrick called over his shoulder.

3.26am

Grissom arrived back from the B & E Brass had assigned him and decided to quickly check in on Greg and Cassy. He was pretty sure that Greg wouldn't have any trouble with Cassy, she was well behaved and if there was a problem, all you had to do to solve it was divert the conversation to _Scooby Doo_. However, upon arrival at the DNA lab, it appeared deserted. Frowning, he began to search the lab. After all, how could a twenty something DNA tech who was about six feet and a six year old disappear in a room with glass walls?

A minute later, he stopped, smiling at the sight before him. In the back corner, Greg was slumped against the wall, asleep, mouth open, hat askew and still wearing home made jewellery, with one arm casually slung around Cassy's shoulder. Cassy was snuggled into his side, one hand twisted into Greg's t-shirt. They reminded him in a way of a brother and sister, the protective way Greg had his arm around her, and the way Cassy held onto him trustingly.

Grissom backed away slowly, leaving the two of them asleep, although he was sorely tempted to sneak back in with a camera.


	15. Ch-ch-changes

**Cassy is seven**.

Grissom surveyed the disaster area that was his apartment and sighed. Since the landlord had announced he needed the apartment next door for his neice, Grissom's current au pair, Lawan had had to move into the two bedroom apartment. He'd tried to convince her to take his room, but she was having none of it. She insisted on taking the couch. Hence the pillows and blanket folded neatly on the couch. The dining table was half covered with papers for his latest article for the forensics journal. His bookcase was overflowing, Cassy's videos were piled up around the TV, a half finished game of monopoly took over the coffee table, a couple of abandoned Barbie dolls from when Lindsey was over the weekend before peeked out from under the couch, and the clothes horses in front of the window. He sighed. He needed a bigger place. Any hopes of a relaxing day off were gone.

"But why do we have to move?" Cassy asked.

"Because we don't have enough room," he replied.

"But then I'll have to move schools! I don't want to move schools! I want to stay in class with Lindsey."

"Not if we find a house in the same area," he assured her.

"I'm not moving schools!"

XOXOXOX

Grissom surveyed the properties in the relator's window. He had no idea what he wanted. Okay, deep breath, start from the beginning. At least three bedrooms, actually, probably better with four. Right so, four bedrooms, at least two bathrooms, kitchen and living room, obviously. Simple, right?

Cassy swung her legs back and forth, bored, as the realtor showed her dad property after possible property. _Back...and forth... Back...and forth... Back...and forth..._ She didn't want to move if it meant she couldn't go to school with Lindsey anymore. They were best friends in the whole world! They had to see each other every day.

"Cassy... Cassy." She snapped back to reality.

"Yeah?"

"We're going to go look at a couple of houses, okay?"

"Sure." She jumped off the chair. Anything to get out of this boring office.

XOXOXOX

The first house was an immediate no. The second looked good from the outside but needed far too much doing to it. And DIY was not his forte. Grissom sighed. Of all the things he could've been doing today, this was not top on his list. But, needs must.

He pulled up behind the realtor outside the third house. This one was the last. He didn't think he could take anymore of this.

"Can I go look round myself?" Cassy asked as soon as they were in the door.

"Okay, but stay in the house."

"I know," she called over her shoulder.

After being shown around by the realtor, Grissom wandered round the house again alone. He had to admit, the townhouse had a lot of potential. There was enough room for him and Cassy to live with an au pair, without them constantly tripping over each other. He found Cassy on the back porch, sitting on the bench.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I like it," she replied. "Do you?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Picked out your room?" he teased.

"Of course," Cassy replied seriously. "Are we gonna move here?"

"I think we might."

"Will I still go to school with Lindsey?"

"Yeah."

"Then we should move here," she declared.

XOXOXOX

Six weeks later, and the keys to their new home were handed over. As Grissom surveyed his new study, he wondered why he'd bothered moving, considering everything was still in a mess. A voice in his head told him it would only be until he got everything sorted out. A more realistic voice told that it was unlikely he'd ever get through it all and he would probably always have piles of stuff lying about. He'd glanced into Cassy's room on the way past and found it in a similar state. She had obviously inherited his philosophy on organisation; to have whatever you need at hand to grab. Which translated as everything was a mess.

"Did a bomb drop in here?"

"Who invited you in?" Grissom asked.

"The door was open," Catherine replied, leaning on the doorframe. "And I figured you could probably use a hand." She surveyed the room. "Although I don't think one is going to be enough to get through all of this."

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"Who are you trying to convince? Yourself or me?"

"Are you going to help or not?"

"Where do you want this?" Catherine asked, crouching beside the first box.

"I have no idea."

She rolled her eyes. This was going to take a while.


	16. Therapy for the Soul

**Cassy is seven.**

When Grissom opened the front door, he was greeted by the sound of music. It was beautiful, but he couldn't place the tune. For a moment he wondered if Lawan was playing the piano, but dismissed the thought almost immediately, remembering her saying that she didn't know how to play. Frowning, he dropped his keys onto the table, and left his briefcase on the floor. It wasn't Bartok, and it definitely wasn't Bernstein. Following the music, Grissom stopped in the doorway, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

Sitting at the piano, her feet nowhere near the floor, was Cassy. Her fingers danced over the keys, never hitting a wrong note. Grissom still had no idea what song it was, or where she'd learned to play. But anyone could hear that she was good, great even, although he would never admit that he was more than a little biased when it came to Cassy.

When she stopped he clapped, making her jump.

"Bravo," he smiled. "What song was that?"

"Dunno," Cassy shrugged.

"Who taught you to play piano?"

"Me. I just started pressing the keys and played the ones that sounded nice together."

"You're very good," he told her, kissing the top of her head. Cassy shrugged, but her grin betrayed her delight at her father's praise.


	17. So Much For Our Ever After

**Cassy is seven.**

"Can Lindsey and I stay here for a couple of days?"

Grissom took one look at Catherine's red eyes and the tight line of her mouth, took into account the time and nodded. She managed to force a small smile of thanks before returning to her car to get Lindsey. The two girls were delighted at having each other's company for a few extra hours. Leaving the two of them in Cassy's room, Grissom returned to the living room. Catherine sat on the couch, head in hands, in a very un-Catherine like position. He sat down in the armchair.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

_Catherine pulled up behind a strange convertible parked in front of her driveway. Assuming one of her neighbours had gotten lucky the night before, she ignored it. She, Warrick and Grissom had closed their triple homicide and with only two hours of their shift left, Brass had told them to go home. She couldn't wait to get inside, see Lindsey and Eddie then fall into bed. Fate however had other plans. _

_First she couldn't find her keys in her purse. She could hear them, but they proved elusive for a further five minutes. When at last she found them, she dropped them – twice - before she could get them into the lock. At last she got inside, dumped her purse and keys on the kitchen table and headed up to Lindsey's room. Her daughter was sound asleep. Catherine smiled softly, and lightly kissed her forehead before leaving the room and heading down the hall to her own. She opened the door and felt as though she'd been hit by a train._

"He had her there with my _daughter_ in the house," Catherine said quietly, unable to meet her friend's eyes. "_Our_ daughter. It's bad enough that he was sleeping with someone else, but the fact that he did it with Lindsey..."

"I'm sorry Cath," Grissom said. Something in his tone made Catherine look up.

"You knew, didn't you?" she realised. His guilty look confirmed her theory. "Why...?"

"I didn't want to hurt you." He hesitated. "What did you tell Lindsey?"

"That we were picking Cassy up for school. So I should probably take them, if that's okay with you."

"It's fine."

Usually as soon as Cassy left for school, Grissom would try and get a couple of hours sleep. But today he waited. He wanted to know what Catherine planned to do. She'd threatened to leave Eddie before but this was different. He didn't want her and Lindsey going back. He didn't want to see his friend hurt again. When Catherine returned, he knew the conversation could wait. She looked dead on her feet.

XOXOXOX

Catherine chewed her lip nervously, stopping as soon as Grissom returned, carrying two mugs of coffee. There were still a couple of hours until Cassy and Lindsey came home from school, and she wanted to get her things from home. Except she didn't want to face Eddie alone, and she knew taking Grissom would only create a whole heap more trouble.

"Thanks," she said gratefully, wrapping her hands around the mug.

"What are you going to do?" he asked eventually.

"I can't go back this time, can I?"

"No."

"I'll need to go over and pick up some stuff. I don't want to go alone, but, I don't think it's a good idea if you come," she admitted. Grissom looked thoughtful.

"Lawan could go with you," he suggested. Catherine considered the idea. She'd met Grissom's latest au pair a couple of times and liked her. The young Thai woman was sensitive and quiet, caring and considerate but would stand up for someone or something she felt strongly about. Catherine nodded.

"Will you ask her?"

Lawan was only too happy to help Catherine, and even offered to drive. At twenty five, she was one of the oldest au pairs Grissom had had. Catherine knew that he'd paid for her to take get her driving license. He treated them well, too well. He spoke highly of most, especially his first, Matty, who now lived in Vegas and was engaged to a doctor. Lawan was the first since Matty who'd asked to stay for a second year.

"Thanks for coming," Catherine said quietly.

"No problem Mrs Willows," Lawan replied in perfect English.

"Please, call me Catherine."

As she'd expected, Eddie was waiting, full of remorse and swearing he'd never do it again. She didn't believe him. But she was glad Lawan was here. If she'd been alone, she might not have had the strength to walk away. Once back in the car, with suitcases full of her and Lindsey's possessions, Catherine let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said.

"It's no problem," Lawan replied. "My parents divorced when I was nine. It was not pretty. I helped raise my brothers while they were fighting the whole time."

"Is that why you became an au pair?"

"Yes. I save the money I make. I want to go to university and become a teacher."

"You'd make an amazing teacher," Catherine replied sincerely.

XOXOXOX

"Gotcha," Grissom grinned, grabbing his daughter and swinging her into his arms. Cassy giggled, throwing her arms around his neck and allowing him to carry her outside.

"Whatcha doing?" she sing-songed.

"Taking you outside," he replied.

"Why?"

"Cause I want to talk to you."

"About what?" she frowned. Grissom sat her down on her swing and crouched down in front of her. "Catherine and Lindsey are going to stay with us for a while," he explained.

"Like a sleepover?"

"Sort of. Now, I don't want you to ask Lindsey about this because it might make her upset, understand? Catherine and Eddie aren't going to be married anymore and aren't going to live together."

"Why?"

"Because they don't love each other as much. But they still love Lindsey very much. So if Catherine or Lindsey seem sad, that's why."

"Okay," Cassy nodded, before throwing her arms around his neck again.

"Love you daddy."

"Love you too Cass."

XOXOXOX

Catherine put her card into the ATM and waited. She entered her pin number and selected $200. The machine beeped angrily, insufficient funds flashing on the screen. Frowning, Catherine tried again, reducing the amount to $100. Same result. She kept reducing the amount, but each time it told her there were insufficient funds in her account. By now a queue had built up so, feeling self conscious, Catherine removed her card and went into the bank in the hope of clearing the matter up.

"Do you know what that good for nothing soon to be ex-husband of mine has done?" Catherine raged. "He has cleared out my bank account. He forged my signature and got his girlfriend to pretend to be me so he could get my money. I'll kill him, I really will."

"Do you have any money left?" Grissom asked, looking up from the microscope.

"A hundred dollars." Tears began to well up in Catherine's eyes but she blinked them back furiously. "Which isn't a lot of help in trying to buy a place for me and Lindsey."

"Had you found somewhere?"

"Yeah, it was perfect. And I could afford it," she replied wistfully.

"Cath, let me buy it for you."

"No!"

"It's just a loan, you can pay me back."

"Gil, I can't let you do that."

"Yes you can. Besides, it gets you out of my spare room."


	18. Discoveries

**Cassy is eight.**

Sara flicked through an old forensics journal she'd found lying about in the break room while she waited for Grissom to hand out assignments. At the other end of the room Nick was stretched across the couch, nursing the remainder of last night's hangover while Warrick channel surfed.

"Can you turn it down man?" Nick croaked. "Please?"

"Man, what did you _do_ last night?" Warrick exclaimed.

"Take my advice, never go out with Greg," Nick mumbled, his arm covering his eyes.

"Hey guys, here's your assignments, Nicky you look like hell," Catherine said as she arrived in the break room.

"Where's Grissom?" Sara frowned.

"He told me yesterday that he'd be late, that he'd arranged it with Cavallo and that I should hand out assignments," Catherine replied.

"That's not like him," Warrick said, switching off the TV and joining the women at the table.

"Nope," Nick agreed, groaning as he sat up slowly.

"Wait, what date is it?" Warrick asked.

"Seventeenth," Sara replied automatically.

"Science fair," he said, leaning back with a satisfied smile.

"Yeah I remember him telling me about it last week," Nick added.

"And that will be why Lindsey's cheerleading practice was cancelled," Catherine realised.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on here?" Sara asked.

"Cassy's middle school science fair?" Nick said. "She's been asking Grissom and Greg about it for weeks."

"I still have no idea what you are talking about."

"Cassy. Cassandra. Cassy Grissom," Warrick said.

"Whoa, what?"

"Cassy, eight years old, brown hair and eyes, bout four five?" Nick raised his eyebrows. Sara stared blankly.

"Grissom's daughter," Catherine said.

"_What_?"

"You didn't know?" Catherine asked slowly.

"No. He... Grissom... I have never heard Grissom mention a daughter." Sara's thoughts were all over the place. Why did everyone else know Grissom had a kid except her? And who and where was the mother? "Can someone please just explain this to me?"

"I think maybe you should ask Grissom," Catherine said before handing out the assignments.

XOXOXOX

"Cassy relax," Grissom said. His daughter fidgeted when she was nervous, and she hadn't been still for the past three hours. "You're going to win," he added.

"You're my dad, you're _supposed_ to say that," she replied.

"Cass, you're doing a project more advanced than your grade, you're top of the class in science..."

"Yeah, but these kids are all geniuses," she pointed out. "They're amazing at _everything_. And I suck at maths."

"You don't."

"I do."

"Well..." Grissom racked his brains quickly. "As long as you can count and do your times tables who cares? I bet the other kids can't sign like you. Or do ballet as well as you. Or play piano like you can. Or do that splits thing you do at cheerleading. Or-"

"Okay dad, I get it," Cassy interrupted. "We can't all be amazing at everything."

XOXOXOX

"Hey Sara, are you mad?" Nick asked.

"What do you think?" Sara replied, taking another picture of the body.

"We thought you knew, I mean, you knew Grissom from...before, so we assumed you knew," he continued. "Otherwise we would've told you."

"Nick, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Grissom."

"I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose. Not tell you I mean. It is Grissom after all. He's not exactly...great at people skills."

Sara didn't reply. She didn't want to talk about it. She was hurt. How the hell could Grissom have kept this from her? Especially when everyone else knew. She remembered when they met again, in San Francisco, when he'd left for the weekend, saying he had to visit someone. Why hadn't he just told her he had to visit his daughter? Why hadn't he just told her?

XOXOXOX

"Hey Griss, how'd it go?" Warrick called, leaning out of DNA.

"First place," Grissom replied proudly.

"Congratulations," Warrick replied. Greg grinned and gave him a thumbs up, proud of his 'little sister's' achievement. Grissom found Nick and Sara in one of the layout rooms.

"Hey, what've you got?" he asked.

"Two 419's from Henderson," Nick replied. "Mother and daughter. Cause of death stabbings, no knife, waiting for DNA and fingerprint results. I was going to head out with Brass to see the husband."

"Okay, see you later."

"What's up?" Grissom asked once Nick left.

"Don't know what you mean," Sara replied without looking at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sara snapped. "Actually, you know what, yeah, there is something. Why the hell did you never tell me you have a daughter? Why did you leave me looking like a fool earlier? Because everyone else knew except me. The whole lab. Do you have any idea how stupid I felt? It was humiliating!"

Her rant over, they stared at each other, the silence electrically charged. Grissom had no idea that Sara didn't know about Cassy, if he hadn't told her it wasn't a conscious decision. Then he remembered when he visited Cassy from San Francisco and realised to Sara that would've added insult to injury. He wanted to apologise, but he didn't know how. He wanted to make it up to her, but he had the same problem. Sara took his silence as his usual unwillingness to act and stormed out, muttering about getting the DNA results from Greg.

XOXOXOX

When Nick called to say Brass had taken in the husband after finding traces of blood on his hands, Sara was more than happy to report that all the evidence pointed in the same direction. Another man who abused his family off the streets. That made her happy. Well, happier. She was still pissed at Grissom.

When she got home she heated a frozen pizza before collapsing into bed and sleeping better than she had in weeks. The insomniac inside had obviously gotten tired too and decided she could use the rest.

XOXOXOX

While making her way slowly through a bowl of cereal -a new brand she'd seen advertised which tasted like cardboard, actually cardboard probably tasted better- her cell phone buzzed with a message.

_Meet me at Desert Breeze Park. Thirty minutes. Gil._

Sara sighed. Day and swing shifts must be really busy.

When Sara drew up she could see Grissom sitting on a bench facing the kids play area. Frowning, Sara got out of the car. Grissom didn't have his kit, and there were no cops, no crime scene tape, nothing. Just people going about there lives. Figuring that she'd been tricked Sara locked the car and walked towards her supervisor.

"Why am I here?"

Grissom looked up. He hadn't heard Sara approach. He pointed towards the play area.

"Girl going down that slide," he said. "That's Cassy."

"Doesn't answer my question."

"It was never intentional, not telling you. I didn't realise you didn't know. I should've realised."

"She looks like you," Sara said, sitting down next to him. He took that as an apology accepted. But he couldn't help but smile as he always did when anyone said that Cassy looked like him. Most people thought he liked the compliment. "What?" Sara had noticed.

"She's not related to me."

"But, she's your daughter," she frowned.

"Cassy's adopted," he explained. "I'm the only father she's known. She's been with me since she was weeks old. Her biological parents abandoned her to die, then her biological father beat her mother to death. I worked the case. I found Cassy, I adopted her. I even named her."

"So now I'm up to speed with everyone else?" she asked, watching Cassy.

"No. They don't know she's adopted."

Sara looked at him but he was still watching his daughter. She shook her head. The man really was a mystery. No wonder he drove her insane. No wonder she loved him.


	19. Name Game

**Cassy is eight.**

"Hey, I finished my report on the Jones case," Sara announced walking into Grissom's office. She handed it to him.

"Thanks," he replied, looking more than a little stressed.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I was supposed to be out of here half an hour ago," Grissom replied, nodding to the other side of his office, where Sara noticed Cassy for the first time. Grissom's daughter was sitting in front of the tarantula tank, nose practically pressed against the glass.

"Hey Cassy," Sara smiled.

"Hi Sara," she replied.

"What're you doing?" Sara crouched next to Cassy, keeping a wary eye on the spider.

"We're s'posed to be going to see nana." She dropped her voice to a conspiratory whisper. "But Ecklie's being evil again and dad never does his paperwork on time so I have to wait."

Sara bit her lip to stop laughing. Usually Cassy seemed older than her years, and it was nice to see her acting so childishly innocent. Also, hearing Ecklie described as evil was always a plus point in her book.

"Dad?" Cassy called.

"Yeah?"

"Can I take her out?"

"Not today Cass," Grissom replied to Sara's relief. She really didn't want to be next to that thing without the glass between them. The little girl however was disappointed.

Even though her shift was over, Sara sat down beside Cassy, deciding to keep her company, even if it did mean sitting next to that spider. She liked Grissom's daughter; she was smart and cute as a button and easier to talk to than Catherine's daughter Lindsey. Sara had nothing in common with Lindsey and always found herself tongue tied around her, whereas Cassy loved science. And there was another definite plus point of spending time with Cassy; it could mean spending time with Grissom.

"You like spiders, huh?" she asked, glancing at the tarantula. Cassy nodded.

"They're cool," she replied. Only Gil Grissom's daughter could call spiders cool. "This one's my favourite though," Cassy added. "She's the coolest."

"Does she have a name?" Sara asked. Cassy frowned.

"Dad, does she have a name?"

"No," Grissom replied, showing that he clearly thought naming a tarantula was a ridiculous idea.

"We should give her one," Sara said, keeping an eye on Grissom. She hid a smile at his expression.

"Yeah!" Cassy agreed excitedly. "What about... Blackie?"

"Hmm..."

"Or... I know! Rosie! Cause in A Bug's Life there's a spider and she's called Rosie, so we should call her Rosie!"

"Good idea," Sara smiled. Why did it come as no surprise that Cassy loved _A Bug's Life_?

Some time later, when Grissom finally finished his paperwork, Sara said goodbye to Cassy and gave him a smile on her way out, her eyes sparkling and just a little teasing.

"I like Sara," Cassy said once they were in the car.

_Me too_, Grissom thought. _Me too_.


	20. That's My Girl

**Cassy is nine.**

He wasn't exactly sure when it had began. He had an idea it might've started during a trip to the fair when she was six. Or possibly on a trip to Miami when she was four. He had a feeling Danny might've started it. Catherine and Lindsey definitely encouraged it. His mom probably had a hand in it too. Of course, he wasn't exactly blameless either.

He guessed it could stem from the chocolate buttons she'd loved when she was younger. When she'd first struggled with maths, he'd use them to help her count, then the two of them would guzzle all the buttons they'd used. Maybe that was what had started it. Whatever it was, Gil Grissom knew that his daughter was absolutely, one hundred and ten percent addicted to chocolate ice cream. He also knew that if she wanted it when she came home from school things were either very good or very bad. And since she wasn't bouncing off the walls, he guessed it was the latter.

"Cass?" he said tentatively once she was halfway through the bowl. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She was so lying. Without a single doubt.

"So how was school?"

"It sucks," she snapped. He sat down on the couch beside her.

"Why?" he asked gently.

"Cause I can't do maths and everyone says science isn't cool."

He'd always wondered how he would handle it the first time Cassy had to deal with bullies. He'd also kinda hoped it would never happen, but he wasn't as naive as to think it wouldn't. Grissom made sure to consider his next words carefully.

"You've watched Greg in the lab, right?"

"Yeah..." Cassy replied, frowning suspiciously.

"How he can find a person's identity from a few grams of matter such as a hair tag or a tiny bit of spit?"

"Yeah..." she repeated.

"Is it cool?"

"I guess," she smiled, knowing what her dad was up to.

"Then who's to say it isn't? If you like science, then don't let anyone else tell you otherwise," he shrugged.

"You're wrong dad," Cassy said seriously. "I don't like science, I _love_ science," she corrected, grinning. Grissom smiled and hugged her, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

_That's my girl._


	21. The Monster's Loose

**Cassy is nine**.

Sara followed Grissom down the sharp, grassy bank by the side of the road to where David was crouched by the body.

"Hey David," she called.

"Hi," he replied.

"Where's Brass?" Grissom frowned.

"He got called away to another scene," David replied. "He left Officer Johnson in charge."

"Do we know who this guy is?" Sara asked, crouching down next to David.

"No, if you want to check his pockets for ID, go ahead."

Sara put her hand into the victim's back pocket, where there was the clear bulge of a wallet. Flicking it open she began searching for some form of identification.

"He's a CSI," she called in surprise.

"One of ours?" Grissom asked worriedly from where he was scouring the perimeter.

"No, Marathon County, Wisconsin."

"_I'm telling you man, I hightailed it outta there as fast as I could. You could not pay me to go back to Marathon County," Danny declared._

"_What's wrong with it?" Grissom asked. _

"What's his name?" Grissom asked, his pulse quickening.

"Daniel Harper," Sara replied. For a second the world began to spin, until Grissom managed to force himself to take a deep breath. Trying not to look at the body, he handed Sara his camera.

"I have to take myself off the case. Conflict of interest," he explained, his voice slightly strained. "I'll send someone else out to help you process the scene. You're in charge, okay?"

"Okay," Sara nodded. She caught his hand. 'You okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Fine," he replied in a voice that implied otherwise.

"Is there a reason why Grissom looks like he's seen a ghost?" Greg asked, while negotiating his way down the bank.

"Greg? Why are you here?" Sara asked.

"Because Catherine and Nick are working on a car smash and Warrick is working on a B and E and Grissom said you needed help," he explained. "So, my previous question?"

"I think he knows our vic."

"Ouch. Who is he?"

"CSI from Wisconsin."

"Has Grissom ever been to Wisconsin?"

XOXOXOX

Grissom sat down and opened the photo album he kept in his office. He flicked back, past the picture of the nightshift CSI softball team after they beat dayshift, past the pictures of Cassy, past the pictures of Kiera, past pictures of his mom and Cassy, until he came to the picture he was looking for. On the right was a younger version of himself. On the left, a tall, skinny man, with floppy brown hair and a mischievous grin that spread all the way to his eyes. Danny... His best friend. His second friend to be beaten to death.

XOXOXOX

"The killer was pretty careless to leave his cell phone at the scene," Greg commented, swinging his chair back and forth.

"I don't think he did it on purpose," Sara replied.

"We've got a match to our print!" he said gleefully.

"Oh my gosh," Sara whispered, staring at the name on the screen. Without a word, she turned and left.

"Sara?" Greg called. "Sara?"

Grissom was still staring at the photo when he felt someone watching him. Sara.

"We found a print on a cell phone at the scene," she explained. "Archie's still tracing the cell phone but we got a match for the print." She hesitated. "Griss, the print matches Jason Archer."

His throat dried and closed up. His blood began pounding in his ears. His head swam.

"Nine years," he whispered. "Nine years and he's still out there. And now he's back."

"Griss I'm sorry," Sara said sincerely. "We're going to get him. We'll find him, I promise. For all his crimes."

"After shift I'll go through the Lara Reynolds case notes with you," he said. "Only three CSIs know the case. I can't work it because of conflict of interest and the other two are dead."

"Sure, I'll be there."

XOXOXOX

"Cell phone is registered to Jason Archer, owner of the print," Archie said. "He has prior, drug related stuff, nothing major. Greg?"

"Sorry." Greg shook his head and returned to the present. "I was... miles away."

"Obviously."

"Greg, Brass just called," Sara said, entering the lab. "Jason Archer just checked into a hotel under the name Bill Right. Coming?"

"Yeah," he jumped up.

XOXOXOX

"There is no way Archer is going to open the door if he knows it's us," Brass said as they took the stairs to the second floor. "In fact, he'll probably hightail it out of the window."

"We're on the second floor," Greg pointed out.

"He knows how long he's going away for," Sara muttered.

"Luckily for us, the manager told me that five minutes ago, Archer ordered room service," Brass continued. "Chilli dog and fries apparently. Want to do the honours?"

"Gladly."

Sara waited as Brass knocked on the door before calling, "Room service!"

"What's the order?" a male voice replied. Sara felt a chill. She was talking to Cassy's birth father, the man who murdered two people and tried to murder a baby. She'd looked triple murderers, quadruple murderers, murderers who'd killed dozens of people, yet the hate she felt for this man surpassed all of them.

"Chilli dog and fries," she replied. Archer was being careful. She only hoped he would believe her.

They heard him removing the chain and unlocking the door. Brass pushed Sara and Greg back. As soon as the lock was undone, he gave the signal and the officers burst through the door. From their position outside, Sara and Greg could only hear what was going on. Sara craned her neck in an attempt to see, but it was in vain. Eventually the sounds of the scuffle died and Brass gave them the okay to enter. That was when Sara laid eyes on Jason Archer for the first of many times.

He was tall, slim, well built, looking enough like an actor to get plenty of girls. Brown hair fell over his forehead, he looked normal. Except for his eyes. They were green, and made her shudder. Every encounter would leave her with the same feeling. They were CSIs, scientists, they didn't believe in mysterious forces. However, Sara knew in an instant that this man was pure evil. Bile rose in her throat but she forced it down again. Those evil eyes settled on her and she felt the waves of hate they emanated turned onto her.

XOXOXOX

At the end of the shift, Sara knocked on Grissom's office door.

"Come in," he called. She closed the door behind her.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

"Fine," he replied. "I heard you found Archer."

"Yeah," she nodded.

"If you're tired we can do this tomorrow-"

"No," Sara interrupted. "I want to do this. I want to get him. If you need to see Cassy it's fine, but I want to do this."

They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes. It was Grissom who eventually broke eye contact.

"Okay. Pull round a chair," he said. She did so, noticing a photo album sitting open on his desk. She was pretty sure he'd been looking at it earlier. Not wanting to pry into Grissom's private life, she tried not to look, but it was hard.

"On October 23rd '91, Danny and I were called to a 419. Victim was female, caucasian, twenty one. Her name was Lara Reynolds. She was beaten to death. Danny tested blood from one of the wounds and found it belonged to Jason Archer. We searched Archer's home and found a book containing a list of girl, their ages and their price. Including Lara Reynolds. Archer disappeared, there was never any trace, no sightings, nothing."

"What about Cassy?"

"While we were processing the scene, I heard crying. I left Danny, and went to see where it was coming from. I found her wrapped in a hospital blanket under a bench. I took her to the hospital, then to social services."

"It says here that you arrived at the scene at zero five thirty. But you were dayshift?"

"Graveyard was working a mass grave found outside Vegas," he explained. "Swing had a quadruple. So we were called in." He passed her a copy of the file. "Here's our reports, evidence photos, everything. You'll need to look over everything."

"I will," she promised. "We'll get him."

XOXOXOX

Sara left Greg and Warrick processing the evidence with strict instructions to check everything twice and to follow procedure to the letter. When she arrived at the police station, Brass was finishing another interview. Archer was already in the interview room. Sara slipped into the observation room, so those eyes couldn't fix themselves on her again. However, she found she wasn't alone.

"Griss?"

"Hey," he smiled sadly.

"Wanted to see the monster?" she asked, standing next to him.

"People aren't monsters Sara."

"Have you looked in his eyes?"

"No."

"His eyes are evil."

"So Mr Archer, or can I call you Jason?" Brass asked.

"Whatever," Archer replied stonily.

"Jason, tell me how you knew Daniel Harper."

"Who?"

"The CSI you murdered."

"Excuse me Detective, what evidence do you have?" defence lawyer Moira Peyton interrupted.

"We found your client's cell phone at the scene, with your client's print on it," Sara replied, showing her a picture of the cell at the scene.

"All that proves is that my client was there at some point recently. It doesn't prove murder."

"Maybe not," Brass conceded. "Okay then, let's talk about Lara Reynolds."

"Excuse me, what?" Moira frowned, not noticing the look of fury that flashed in her client's eyes.

"Lara Reynolds was beaten to death on October 23rd 1991," Sara explained, sliding photo after photo onto the table. "She was violently and brutally beaten to death. Your client's blood was found in her wounds, probably from hitting her so hard. Your client was her pimp. Not only that, but they left their daughter to die. Their newborn daughter."

"Now, why'd you do that?" Brass asked, still playing the good cop. "I mean, if you didn't want the kid, why not just give her up for adoption? Why leave her under a park bench to die?"

"I didn't, Lara did," Archer replied calmly.

"She leaves your daughter to die and you do nothing about it?"

"Do you know what happens to evidence when a case goes cold?" Sara asked. "We keep it, just incase anything ever comes up again. But since 1991, technology has advanced. And do you know what we found? Your prints, on a rock which was used to break Lara Reynolds' neck. Not only that, we managed to find traces of your DNA on the blanket the baby was wrapped in. Not Lara's, yours. You left her there."

As Sara spoke, the fury visible in Archer's face grew. At her final accusation he lunged across the table towards her. Brass and the uniform officer at the door held him back, more uniforms rushing in. Sara instantly pushed her chair back, her heart leaping to her throat. It reminded her of her father. A hand held onto her shoulder and she jumped, until she realised it was Grissom.

"Get him out here," Brass said to the uniform officers, who dragged Archer out.

XOXOXOX

"Sara? Shift ended half an hour ago? Are you pulling a double?" Greg asked.

"I'm just going over the evidence," she replied.

"Sara, we know he did it. Attacking you today just confirmed it. He's going to go away for this."

"I know, I promised he would."

"Promised who?" Greg frowned.

"Grissom."

"Why does Grissom care? Because it was his friend? Because he worked the original case?"

"Because Jason Archer is Cassy's father," she replied, staring straight ahead, unable to meet his eyes.

"No... _Grissom_ is Cassy's father."

"Archer is her biological father. Cassy's adopted."

"Sara, this is a joke right?"

"No."

"But... She looks like Grissom. She doesn't look anything like, like, _him_."

"I know."

"Does Cassy know?"

"That she's adopted? Yeah. I don't think she knows about Archer. It's not like it makes a difference. Archer tried to kill her, Grissom loves her more than anything in the world. Simple as that."

XOXOXOX

They decided for Sara's safety it would be better for her to sit this interview out. Well, Brass and Grissom had decided. So this time she was standing by Grissom in observation and Warrick was in there with Brass. Archer had ditched the attorney. They'd heard how Danny had spotted him, followed him, and then confronted him. How he'd tried to take Archer in and been beaten to death as a result. Now it was Lara Reynolds' turn.

"Stupid bitch," Archer spat. "If she'd come to me in the first place, I could've dealt with it. But no, she had to wait till the end. She just disappears then turns up saying she's pregnant, it's mine, and her contractions have started. So I take her to the hospital, she has it, then we leave. And I told her, we get rid of it, and you get back to work. Only, it starts to cry. And the stupid bitch wants to go back. So I stopped her."

Sara and Grissom stared in silence. A lump had taken up residence in her throat, and when she blinked she realised tears had slipped down her cheeks. Swallowing, she blinked them away and hoped Grissom hadn't noticed. Glancing at him, she saw he was still staring through the glass, anger and hatred plain to see on his face. It was scary.

"Griss?" she said softly, laying a hand on his arm. "Hey, I'll buy you some breakfast."


	22. Eye of the Storm

**Cassy is nine.**

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?"

"I do."

"So, Miss Sidle, who else besides you processed the evidence?" Moira Peyton asked.

"Myself, CSI Warrick Brown, Greg Sanders, David Hodges, and Archie Johnson," Sara replied.

"So you and CSI Brown processed the scene?"

"No."

"So just you?"

"No," Sara repeated.

"Well who else? You and CSI Brown are the only two CSIs you named."

"I processed the scene with the help of Greg Sanders."

"Is he a CSI?"

"No," Sara replied. "He's a DNA tech."

"So why was he processing the scene?"

"Because we had a lot of cases, and Greg wants to get into the field. It was experience for him."

"But that doesn't make him a CSI."

"I checked everything he did, I made sure everything was done by the book."

When Sara came out of the court room she kicked the first pillar she saw.

"Damn," she muttered. She'd known Peyton would bring up Greg, and she'd thought she was prepared for it.

"How did it go?"

Sara spun around. She'd forgotten that Grissom was waiting for her.

"Defense lawyer implied the evidence from the scene was compromised cause Greg was there."

"We expected that."

"Yeah, but I let her get to me, and it showed."

"I've been called."

"When?" Sara looked up.

"Tomorrow."

"It'll be fine." She sounded less than convincing.

"She's going to say my judgement is clouded because of Cassy. And because Danny was my friend."

XOXOXOX

"Mr Grissom, was this the first case you worked where a baby was abandoned?" Moira Peyton asked. Like he'd predicted, she was using Cassy against him.

"No," Grissom replied.

"So what made this one different?"

"It wasn't."

"I find that hard to believe. If it wasn't different, then tell me, do you adopt every abandoned child that is involved in your cases?"

"No," he repeated.

"Then why did you adopt the defendant's daughter?"

"She's not his daughter. When the adoption came into effect he ceased to be her parent. She's my daughter."

"Why Mr Grissom?"

"I don't know."

XOXOXOX

Sara and Grissom sat next to each other in the public gallery, watching as Jason Archer took to the stand. They watched together as he spun his lies. They watched as the jury fell into believing his stories. They watched as it became more and more likely that he would walk out a free man. Sara couldn't believe he was just going to walk. He murdered two people. At least! With a temper like Archer's, she suspected there were quite a few bodies out there, with families waiting for the impossible.

The jury debated for three days. They felt so impossibly long to both Sara and Grissom. How could anyone not see that Jason Archer was an evil, murdering son of a bitch? The sat and watched as the jury filed back into the room, anxious nerves fluttering in both their stomachs.

"On the charge of murder in the first degree, how do you find the defendant Jason Archer?" the judge asked. Sara's hand shot out and grabbed Grissom's.

"We find the defendant..." Their fingers intertwined. "Guilty."

"On the charge of child abandonment and endangerment, how do you find the defendant?"

"We find the defendant guilty."

Guilty... he was going to prison for a _very_ long time. He could never harm Cassy or take her away from him. Grissom felt so relieved, worry he didn't even know he'd had lifting. After a moment, Sara realised what the jury spokesperson had said. She dropped Grissom's hand and threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, too high on adrenalin to realise what she was doing.

Guilty. Nine years later, and he and Sara had finished what he and Danny had started. As Sara's lips left his cheek he thought, _Thank you my friend. I miss you._

**XOXOXOX**

**So, that's the end. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if so I'd love to here from you. However, I'm really bad at reviewing stories I like, so I understand if you don't. **

**I'm hoping to write some more about Cassy and Grissom, because this only takes us up to series one. Also, would anyone be interested in reading a story about Danny and Grissom meeting? It's an idea that started whirling round in my brain, but I'm not sure whether to go ahead or not.**

**Thanks for reading ,especially if you've stuck with it all the way from the beginning. **

**Christina x**


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